mmmttmttnwmivimtvi-tmrrtiiKnYhii w»i 


tlrdlKiVOMOHOKOMOKOHOMOM^ 


tMteiN 


Me.  BAUCHER, 

upon  Partisan. 


NEW    METHOD 


OP 


HORSEMANSHIP, 


INCLUDING  THE 


BREAKING  AND  TRAINING  OF  HORSES, 


IKSTEUOTIONS  TOR  OBTAHTING  A  GOOD  SEAT. 


ILLUSTRATED. 


By     F.     BAUCHER 


•Translated  from  the  Mnth  Paris  Edition. 


NEW  YORK  :    - 
ALBERT  COGSWELL,  PUBLISHER, 
No.  139  Eighth  Street. 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE. 


The  author's  introduction  to  iiis  "  Method  of  Horse- 
manship "  is  omitted  in  this  edition,  because  containing 
much  that  would  be  uninteresting  to  the  American 
reader.  It  mentions  the  great  difficulties  he  had  in 
attracting  the  attention  of  the  public  to  his  system,  and 
the  complete  success  with  which  it  was  crowned  when 
once  this  attention  was  attracted.  One  paragraph  from 
it,  which  contains  the  principle  upon  which  his  whole 
method  is  founded,  is  here  given : 

**  However  favored  by  nature  the  horse  may  be,  he 
requires  a  preparatory  exercise  to  enable  his  forces  to 
afford  each  other  mutual  assistance  ;  without  this  every- 
thing becomes  mechanical  and  hazardous,  as  well  on  his 
part  as  on  that  of  the  rider. 

"  What  musician  could  draw  melodious  sounds  from 
an  instrument  without  having  exercised  his  fingers  in 
handling  it  ?  He  would  certainly,  if  he  attempted  such 
a  thing,  produce  only  false  discordant  sounds;  and  the 
same  thing  occurs  in  horsemanship  when  we  undertake 
to  make  a  horse  execute  movements  for  which  he  has 
not  been  prepared." 

M.  Baucher  presents  the  official  documents  upon  the 
subject  of  the  introduction  of  his  method  into  the  French 
army  with  the  following  introductory  remarks : 


TBANSLATOR  S    PREFACE. 


"  Since  the  first  publication  of  my  method,  indisputa- 
ble facts  have  attested  the  truth  of  the  principles  therein 
contained.  Field-Marshal  the  Minister  of  War  has  ap- 
pointed a  commission,  presided  over  by  Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral  the  Marquis  Oudinot,  to  examine  into  its  advantages.* 

"  Fifty  horses,  some  from  the  troop,  and  others  be- 
longing to  officers,  which  had  not  yet  commenced  their 
education,  or  which  were  considered  difficult  to  manage, 
or  vicious,  were  subjected  to  thetexperiment,  which  com- 
menced on  the  21st  March,  1842.  The  demands  of  the 
service  of  the  garrison  of  Paris  permitting  only  a  small 
number  of  cuirassiers,  municipal  guards,  and  first-class 
lancers  to  be  put  at  the  disposition  of  the  commission, 
nearly  all  the  horses  were  intrusted  to  riders  who  were 
by  no  means  intelligent,  or  else  whose  education  was  not 
very  much  advanced.  The  riders  themselves  exercised 
their  horses.  On  the  9th  of  April — that  is  to  say,  after 
fifteen  lessons — Field-Marshal  the  Minister  of  War  wished 
to  witness  the  results  of  the  system  he  had  ordered  to  be 
tried.  His  Excellency  was  accompanied  by  the  members 
of  the  committee  of  cavalry,  and  many  other  general 
officers.  The  men  being  completely  armed  and  equipped, 
and  the  horses  caparisoned,  they  executed,  individually 
and  in  troop,  at  all  the  paces,  movements  that,  up  to  this 
time,  had  only  been  required  of  horses  that  had  been 
exercised  for  five  or  six  months  under  experienced  riders. 
The  Minister  of  War  followed  all  the  trials  with  the 
greatest  interest,  and  before  retiring  expressed  his  com- 
plete satisfaction,  and  announced  his  intention  of  having 
a  general  application  of  it  made  in  the  army." 


*  "The  commission  was  composed  of  Lieutenant-General  Oudinot,  Col. 
Carrelet,  Commander  of  the  Muaicipal  Guard,  the  Chef  d'Escadrons  De  Nov- 
ital,  commanding  the  Cavalry  Riding -School,  and  the  Captain- instructors  de- 
Gues,  of  tlie  5tli  CuirasaierB,  and  De  Mesanges,  of  the  3d  Lancers." 


translator's  preface.  5 

Among  the  official  documents  in  favor  of  Baucher's 
method  is  a  letter  from  M.  Champmontant,  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  of  the  Staff,  Secretary  of  the  Committee  of 
Cavalry,  in  which  he  requests  M.  Baucher  to  fix  a  con- 
venient time  to  appear  before  the  committee  and  explain 
his  system  more  completely,  that  they  may  consider  its 
adoption  in  the  army ;  another  from  Lieutenant-General 
Marquis  Oudinot  to  M.  Baucher.  In  this  letter  the 
General  informs  M.  Baucher  that  the  Minister  of  War 
has  decided  that  a  series  of  experiments  shall  be  made 
upon  his  method  of  breaking  new  horses  and  such  as 
were  considered  difficult  to  manage. 

Then  follows  the  report  upon  the  trials  of  Baucher's 
method,  and  a  recapitulation  of  the  daily  operations  by 
the  Chef  d? Escadrons  de  Novital,  commanding  the 
Royal  School  at  Saumur.  The  complete  success  of  the 
trial  is  mentioned  above,  and  an  extract  only  from  the 
report  wnll  be  here  given  : 

"  But,  it  may  be  objected,  will  not  this  species  of  cap- 
tivity to  which  the  new  method  will  subject  the  horse, 
prevent  his  lasting  ?  Will  it  not  be  the  source  of  his 
premature  decay  ?  To  this  it  is  easy  to  answer  by  a 
comparison,  which  to  us  appears  conclusive.  When  all 
the  wheel  work  of  a  machine  fits  well  together,  so  that 
each  part  furnishes  its  share  of  action,  there  is  harmony, 
and  consequently  need  of  a  less  force;  so  when,  in  an 
organized  body,  we  are  enabled  to  obtain  suppleness 
and  pliability  in  all  the  parts,  the  equilibrium  becomes 
easy,  there  is  suppleness  and  lightness,  and  in  conse- 
quence, a  diminution  of  fatigue. 

"  Far  from  injuring  the  horse,  the  new  method  has  the 
advantage  of  being  a  great  auxiliary  in  developing  the 
muscles,  particularly  in  a  young  subject." 

Extract  from  the  report  to  Lieutenant-General  Oudinot, 


6  TRANSLATOR  S    PBEFACE. 

by  M.  Carrelet,  Colonel  of  the  Municipal  Guard  of 
Paris : 

"  To  shorten  this  narration,  I  would  say  that  the  offi- 
cers of  the  Municipal  Guard  are  unanimous  in  their 
approval  of  M.  Baucher's  proceedings,  applied  to  the 
breaking  of  young  horses. 

"  We  have  assisted  at  the  education  of  forty  troop 
horses,  all  more  or  less  difficult  to  manage  ;  and  we  are 
convinced  that,  by  Baucher's  system,  they  have  been 
more  advanced  in  fifteen  days  than  they  would  have  been 
in  six  months,  by  the  proceedings  we  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  follow. 

"  I  am  so  convinced  of  the  efficiency  of  the  means  prac- 
tised by  M.  Baucher,  that  I  am  going  to  subject  to  them 
all  the  horses  of  my  five  squadrons." 

Extract  from  the  report  of  Lieutenant-General  Mar- 
quis Oudinot  to  his  Excellency  the  Marshal  the  Minister 
of  War: 

"That  the  system  of  M.  Baucher  may  produce  in  the 
army  all  the  advantages  expected  from  it,  it  would  be 
necessary  to  have  a  certain  number  of  instructors  ini- 
tiated in  it  as  completely  as  possible,  that  they  may  be 
able  to  teach  it  afterwards. 

"  In  consequence  of  which,  I  have  the  honor  to  propose 
to  you  to  order : 

"  1  St.  That  upon  the  return  to  Saumur  of  the  com- 
manding officer  of  the  riding-school,  the  young  horses  be 
broken  after  Baucher's  method,  and  observations  made 
upon  the  advantages  or  disadvantages  that  it  presents. 

"  2d.  That  in  the  Fifth  Cuirassiers  and  the  Third  Lan- 
cers, the  application  of  this  method  be  continued. 

*'  3d.  That  the  different  bodies  of  cavalry  within  a 
circle  of  twenty-five  leagues  around  Paris  detach,  for 
about    two   months,   their   captain-instructor    and    one 


tkanslator's  preface.  7 

« 

officer,  who  shoula  come  to  study  the  system  of  M, 
Baucher." 

The  Minister  of  War  immediately  issued  these  three 
orders,  and  also  three  additional  ones  : 

"  4th.  M.  Baucher,  Jr.,  will  repair  to  the  camp  at 
Luneville  and  sojourn  there  during  the  months' of  June, 
July  and  August.  The  captain-instructors  and  one 
lieutenant  from  the  troops  of  horse  stationed  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Paris  will  be  ordered  to  Luneville  during 
those  months  to  study  the  Baucher  system. 

*'  5th.  M.  Baucher,  Jr.,  will  receive  an  indemnity  of 
five  hundred  francs  a  month. 

"  6th.  Each  of  the  bodies  of  troops  of  horse  and 
establishments  of  unbroken  horses  will  receive  two 
copies  of  the  work  entitled  '  A  New  Method  of  Horse- 
manship, by  M.  Baucher.'  " 

Extract  from  the  report  of  the  Chef  d'Escadrons 
Grenier,  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  officers 
detached  to  Paris,  by  ministerial  decision  of  the  20th  of 
May,  1842,  to  study  the  method  of  horsemanship  of  M. 
Baucher : 

"  The  officers  detached  to  Paris  were  of  the  number  of 
twenty-two,  the  captain-instructor  and  a  lieutenant  from 
each  regiment.  *  *  *  They  exercised  for  thirty-nine 
days.  *  *  *  These  officers  did  not  all  arrive  at  Paris 
with  the  belief  that  they  could  be  taught  anything. 
One-half  were  captain-instructors,  the  rest,  lieutenants, 
intended  to  become  the  same.  Thus,  in  the  beginning, 
there  was  very  little  confidence,  on  the  part  of  the 
officers,  in  their  new  professor,  sometimes  even  opposi- 
tion, but  always  zeal   and  good  will. 

"Little  by  little,  confidence  came,  opposition  disap- 
peared ;  but  only  at  the  end  of  the  first  month,  after 
about  twenty-five  lessons,   did  all   the  officers,  without 


8 

exception,  understand  the  method  and  recognize  the  supe- 
riority of  M.  Baucher's  principles  over  those  previously 
known. 

"  Before  leaving,  they  all  approved  of  the  new  method, 
and  desired  its  application  in  their  regiments. 

"  The  method  of  horsemanship  of  M.  Baucher  is  posi- 
tive and  rational ;  it  is  easy  to  understand,  especially 
when  studied  under  the  direction  of  some  one  who  knows 
it.  It  is  attractive  to  the  rider,  gives  him  a  taste  for 
horses  and  horsemanship,  tends  to  develop  the  horse's 
qualities,  especially  that  of  lightness,  which  is  so 
delightful  to  discover  in  a  saddle-horse.  *  *  Applied 
to  the  breaking  of  young  horses,  it  develops  their  instinct, 
makes  them  find  the  domination  of  the  rider  easy  and 
pleasant ;  it  preserves  them  from  the  premature  ruin 
that  an  improper  breaking  often  brings  with  it ;  it  may 
shorten  the  time  devoted  to  the  education  of  the  horse  ; 
and  it  interests  the  riders  employed  in  it." 

M.  Desondes,  Lieutenant  of  the  Ninth  Cuirassiers, 
winds  up  a  long  and  highly  favorable  report  upon  the 
breaking  of  young  horses  for  the  army  with  the  words, 
"  To  Baucher  the  cavalry  is  grateful." 

Extracts  from  the  sixth  and  last  report  upon  the  trials 
of  the  new  method  of  horsemanship  of  M.  Baucher  : 

"  The  first  trials  are  concluded.  The  principal  move- 
ments of  tiie  platoon-drill  on  horseback,  the  running  at  the 
head  and  charging,  have  completed  the  exercises.  Thus, 
thirty-five  lessons  have  sufficed  to  perfect  the  instruction 
of  the  tractable  as  well  as  the  intractable  horses  con- 
fided to  me.  The  first  rough  work  with  the  horse — that 
is  to  say,  the  exercises  with  the  snaffle  prescribed  by 
the  orders — used  to  take  up  as  much  time  as  this,  and 
then  we  scarcely  dared  to  touch  the  curb-rein.  In  this 
view,  the  new  system  is  of  great  utility  for  cavalry. 


"  But  the  promptness  with  which  we  can  put  new 
horses  in  the  ranks  is  not  the  only  advantage  the  new 
method  presents  ;  it  guarantees,  besides,  the  preservation 
of  the  horse;  it  develops  his  faculties  and  his  powers; 
.these  increase  by  the  harmony  and  proper  application 
of  the  forces  among  themselves  and  by  their  rational 
and  opportune  use.  It  is  not  the  immoderate  employ- 
ment of  force  which  conquers  a  rebellious  horse,  but 
the  well-combined  use  of  an  ordinary  force.  The 
Baucher  system  ought  to  be  considered  eminently  pre" 
servative,  since  the  breaking,  being  well  graduated 
and  well  combined,  cannot  have  an  injurious  influ- 
ence upon  the  horse'' s  physique  /  and  his  forces  being 
at  the  disposition  of  the  rider,  it  is  he,  the  absolute 
dispenser  of  these  forces,  who  is  responsible  for  their 
duration  or  premature  destruction.  *  *  *  I  repeat  it, 
that  the  new  method  would  be  a  great  benefit,  an  indis- 
putable improvement  for  cavalry.  *  *  *  j  pray  then 
for  its  adoption,  and  ardently  desire  its  prompt  introduc- 
tion into  the  cavalry.     (Signed)  De  Novital." 

Extract  from  the  Spectateur  Militaire : 

"  Passionately  fond  of  a  science  that,  from  his  child- 
hood, has  been  the  object  of  studies  as  productive  as  they 
were  persevering,  M.  Baucher,  after  having  obtained 
from  the  horse  a  submission  almost  magical,  has  not  been 
willing  to  be  the  only  one  to  profit  by  his  meditations ; 
he  has  put  them  cleverly  together,  and  his  written 
method  is  now  in  the  hands  of  all  those  who  occupy  them- 
selves with  horsemanship.  *  *  *  The  division  of 
dragoons,  and  the  instructors  of  the  different  bodies 
of  troops  of  horse  that  composed  a  part  of  the  camp  of 
Luneville,  intended  to  execute,  after  the  principles  of  the 
new  method,  and  in  the  presence  of  their  ro3'^al  high- 
nesses, the  Dukes  of  Orleans  and  Nemours,  equestrian 


10  TKANSLATOU  S     PREFACE. 

exercises  that  would  have  had  thousands  of  spectators. 
The  mournful  event  that  deprived  France  of  the  prince 
royal  did  not  allow  of  this  performance  having  the  eclat 
that  was  intended.  Nevertheless,  M.  the  Duke  de 
Nemours,  wishing  to  judge  for  himself  of  the  results,  has 
had  part  of  these  exercises  performed  in  his  presence." 

The  death  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  and  the  indifference 
and  afterwards  opposition  of  the  Duke  de  Nemours, 
were  the  principal  causes  of  the  system  of  M.  Baucher  not 
being  adopted  for  the  whole  cavalry  of  the  French  army. 
The  former  was  an  ardent  admirer  of  the  system,  while 
the  latter  was  an  equally  ardent  admirer  of  a  rival  pro- 
fessor of  horsemanship. 

Extract  from  a  letter  of  M.  de  Gouy,  Colonel  of  the 
First  Hussars,  to  M.  Baucher :     . 

"  So  far  from  the  muscular  power  being  lessened  by 
the  repetition  of  the  flexions,  is  it  not  increased  by  hav- 
ing all  the  advantage  of  exercise  over  repose,  of  work 
over  indolence  ?  Does  not  the  muscular  system,  in  rea- 
son, develop  itself,  physiologically  speaking,  in  propor- 
tion to  these  conditions  ?  Will  not  address  and  vigor  be 
the  result  of  these  gymnastics  ?  Has  the  habitual  dif- 
ference between  the  forces  of  the  right  and  left  arm  any 
other  cause  than  the  difference  in  the  daily  use  of  the 
one  to  the  prejudice  of  the  other  ?" 

Baucher  says  :  "  To  prove  the  complete  success  of  my 
mission  to  Saumur,  I  will  back,  according  to  my  custom, 
my  assertions  by  positive  facts.  The  ofiicers  present  at 
my  course  of  instruction  were  of  the  number  of  seventy- 
two  ;  of  this  number  sixty-nine  have  sent  in  reports 
favorable  to  my  method.  There  were  but  three  dissent- 
ing voices  y 

This  statement  is  followed  by  letters  from  General  Pro- 
vost, De  Novital,  etc.,  all  highly  commending  the  system. 


translator's   preface.  H 

Baucher's  method  has  been  reprinted  in  Belgium  and 
translated  into  Dutch  and  German.  In  the  latter  lan- 
guage, several  different  translations  have  been  written, 
one  by  M.  Ritgen,  Lieutenant  of  the  Fourth  Regiment  of 
Iloulans  (Prussian),  and  the  other  by  M.  de  Willisen, 
Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the  Seventh  Cuirassiers  (Prussian). 

The  translator  will  give  some  extracts  from  the  pre- 
face to  M.  de  Willisen's  translation,  as  it  shows  that 
some  of  the  difficulties  met  with  by  the  former  were  not 
altogether  escaped  by  his  German  confrere. 

"After  the  most  positive  results  had  proved  to  me 
most  convincingly  that,  of  all  existing  methods,  that  of  M. 
Baucher  was  the  best,  I  thought  that  it  would  be  useful  to 
translate  it.  This  translation  seemed  at  first  much  easier 
than  it  proved  in  the  sequel ;  above  all,  it  was  actually 
impossible  for  me  to  render  in  German,  as  I  wished,  such 
technical  French  expressions  as  attaques,  accidement^ 
assoiqylissement^  ramnener^  r assembler^  etc.,  retaining 
their  clearness  and  conciseness.  In  German  I  could 
only  find  expressions  that  were  incomplete.  On  this 
account  I  have  put  all  the  words  for  which  I  could 
not  find  a  clear  equivalent  in  German  in  the  original 
French. 

"  Horses  may  be  broken  wnth  much  success  upon  other 
principles — they  have  been  broken  before  M.  Baucher's 
time — but  no  work  has  thrown  so  much  light  upon  horse 
education  ;  no  other  method  has  taught  such  simple  and 
sure  means,  nor  presented  a  like  result  with  certainty. 
lie  who  would  ride  with  safety  and  satisfaction,  ought  to 
be  completely  master  of  an  obedient  and  correct  horse. 
To  obtain  this  result,  M.  Baucher  gives  the  surest  means 
and  points  out  the  shortest  road: 

"  The  exact  knowledge  of  the  obstacles  that  the  horse 
presents  to  dispose  him  to  obey  easily ;  the  simple  man- 


12  translator's   preface. 

ner,  easy  to  understand  and  easy  to  execute,  of  making 
these  obstacles  disappear,  distinguish  this  method  from 
all  preceding  ones,  and  render  it  of  the  greatest  import* 
ance  to  all  riders. 

"The  close  relations  that  are  established  between 
rider  and  horse  give  the  former  such  a  certainty  of  hand 
and  legs,  and  the  latter  such  suppleness  and  obedience, 
that  a  like  result  has  never  previously  been  obtained. 

*'  Until  now,  no  horseman  has  ever  had  such  clear  and 
sure  means  for  breaking  a  horse  given  him,  even  approx- 
imatively,  as  are  contained  in  this  book.  The  trial  will 
give  the  most  convincing  proofs  of  this  when  we  under- 
take to  appl)^  the  princijiles  therein  contained ;  but  that 
can  only  be  considered  a  trial  when  made  by  following 
strictly  what  is  prescribed  in  the  method.  There  is  no 
other  method  that  can  put  the-  horse  so  certainly  in  the 
hand  and  in  the  legs  of  the  rider ;  no  other  method  suc- 
ceeds in  developing  so  much  address  and  assurance  in 
horse  or  rider :  the  horse  feels  at  his  ease,  the  rider  is 
absolute  master  of  him,  and  both  are  at  their  ease. 
*  *  *  *  Tj^^g    jjg^    method 

teaches,  further,  what  is  of  very  great  import- 
ance, the  most  certain  means  of  making  the  rider 
perfectly  in  harmony  with  his  horse,  so  that  they  can 
understand  and  mutually  trust  one  another,  in  such  a 
way  that  the  horse  obeys  as  punctually  as  the  rider 
guides  him  skilfully.  In  place  of  being  obliged  to  break 
every  horse  after  our  own  particular  fashion,  we  will 
only,  thanks  to  this  method,  have  to  occupy  ourselves 
with  one  horse,  for  it  teaches  us  that  the  same  means  are 
applicable  to  all  horses.  It  is  unnecessary  to  enumerate 
the  advantages  the  instruction  of  the  rider  gains  from  it, 
for  he  escapes  the  martyrdom  of  the  lessons  being  given 
him   on   awkward,  badly-broken   horses.      Riders    will 


tran&lator's   preface.  13 

sooner  become  masters  of  these  managed  horses,  and  will 
acquire  in  six  weeks  a  seat  that  will  come  of  itself,  and 
their  touch  will  be  developed  much  more  quickly. 

"  Finally,  men  learn  very  quickly  to  put  in  practice 
means  that  are  ajoplied  on  foot,  and  there  is  a  great 
advantage  in  it ;  it  is  that  they  can  see  better  the 
moment  that  the  neck  becomes  flexible  and  the  jaw  with- 
out contraction ;  besides  this,  their  hand  becomes  much 
more  delicate  than  it  would  have  become  in  a  much 
greater  space  of  time,  if  the  application  took  place  in 
the  saddle. 

"  Until  now,  only  men  of  great  talent  were  able  to 
break  horses  ;  now,  by  practising  this  new  method,  which 
demonstrates  clearly  the  means  of  breaking,  every  rider, 
in  a  very  short  time,  can  acquire  the  knowledge  neces- 
sary to  render  a  horse  fit  for  use.  *  *  *  ^  person 
commencing  to  learn  this  method,  and  who  is  obliged  to 
work  from  the  book,  ought  to  proceed  slowly  and  cau- 
tiously in  the  application  of  principles  that  are  not 
familiar  to  him.  He  ought  first  to  endeavor  to  perfect 
his  seat,  his  position,  his  touch,  the  obedience  of  his 
horse,  and  liis  paces ;  he  will  thus  make  great  progress  in 
the  breaking,  and  be  enabled  to  undertake  the  application 
of  the  new  method. 

*'De  Willisex, 

^^  Lieut.' Col.  of  the  Seventh   Cuirassiers.^^ 

M.  Baucher  received  from  the  King  of  Prussia  a  mag- 
nificent snuff-box  of  elegantly  carved  gold,  as  a  token  of 
the  satisfaction  of  his  majesty  with  our  author's  system. 

If  anybody  has  read  all  this,  they  will  be  pleased  to 
hear  that  there  will  be  no  more  proofs  of  the  excellence 
of  the  system  brought  from  across  the  Atlantic.  In  con- 
sequence of  the  opposition  mentioned  above,  Baucher's 


14  TRANSLATORS     PREFACE. 

system  was  discontinued  in  the  French  army,  in  spite  of 
the  almost  unanimous  wish  of  the  officers.  But  he  has 
gained  a  name  as  the  first  horseman  of  this  or  any  other 
age — the  first  who  could  not  only  manage  horses  him- 
self, but  teach  others  to  do  so  equally  well.  This  has 
been  proved  under  the  translator's  own  eyes. 

A  gentleman  of  Philadelphia  purchased  a  horse,  four 
years  old,  long,  gangling^  ewe-necked ;  such  a  brute  as  no 
Que  but  a  confident  disciple  of  Baucher  would  have  had 
anything  to  do  with.  Had  he  hunted  the  country  for  a 
horse  with  but  one  merit,  that  of  soundness,  and  pos- 
sessing that  only  because  nothing  had  ever  been  done  to 
injure  it,  he  could  not  have  been  better  suited.  Mounted 
upon  this  animal,  it  was  painful  to  see  a  good  rider  in 
such  a  quandary ;  but  a  quiet,  confident  smile  showed 
what  was  intended  to  come  of  it. 

In  six  weeks  from  that  time,  without  the  horse  ever 
having  crossed  the  threshold  of  the  stable-yard,  the 
writer  saw  him  splendid,  with  his  neck  arched  like  the 
steed  in  Holy  Writ,  his  haunches  well  under  him,  obedi- 
ent to  the  lightest  touch  of  hand  or  heel,  ready  to  do 
anything  that  was  demanded  of  him,  because  he  had  been 
put  in  a  position  that  enabled  him  to  do  it. 

Since  that,  the  same  person  has  broken  two  other 
horses  of  greater  natural  capabilities,  and  the  success 
was  proportionately  greater. 

Every  one  who  takes  any  interest  in  horses  recollects 
the  horse  May-fly,  when  first  introduced  to  an  American 
audience,  by  Sands,  of  Welsh's  circus.  This  horse,  a 
thoroughbred,  belonging  to  the  racing  stud  of  Baron 
Rothschild,  was  so  vicious  that  he  had  to  be  brought 
upon  the  race-course  in  a  van,  so  that  he  could  see 
nothing  till  the  moment  to  start  arrived.  With  even 
this  and  similar  precautions,  he  was  considered   danger- 


translator's   preface.  15 

ous  and  unmanageable.  The  master  hand  was  required, 
and,  under  its  influence,  all  such  things  as  vice  and  being 
unmanageable  disappeared.  Instead  of  violent  force  on 
the  part  of  man,  which  would  only  have  produced  more 
violent  force  on  the  part  of  the  brute,  Baucher  sought 
out  the  sources  of  these  resistances,  and  conquered  them 
in  detail. 

Is  it  not  worth  a  few  weeks'  pleasant  labor  with  your 
horse  to  be  able  to  make  him  move  with  the  grace,  elegance 
and  majesty  of  this  one,  or  of  those  we  have  since  seen 
ridden  by  Derious,  and  that  French  Amazon,  Caroline 
Loyo  ?  It  is  within  the  power  of  every  one  to  do  this 
to  a  certain  extent ;  and  as  the  education  of  the  man  as 
a  rider  advances  progressively  with  that  of  the  horse, 
there  are,  as  Baucher  himself  says,  no  limits  to  the  pro- 
gress of  horsemanship,  and  no  performance,  equestrianly 
possible,  that  a  horseman,  who  will  properly  apply  his 
principles,  cannot  make  his  horse  execute. 


BAUCHER'S 

NEW  METHOD  OF  HOESEMANSIIIP. 


CHAPTER  I. 

NEW  MEANS  OF  OBTAIXIXG  A  GOOD  SEAT 

"  It  may  undoubtedly  be  thought  astonishing  that,  in 
the  first  editions  of  this  work,  having  for  its  object  the 
horse's  education,  I  should  not  have  commenced  by  speak- 
ing of  the  rider's  seat.  In  fact,  this,  so  important  a  part 
of  horsemanship,  has  always  been  the  basis  of  classical 
works  on  this  subject.  Xevertheless,  it  is  not  without 
a  motive  that  I  have  deferred  treating  of  this  question 
until  now.  Had  I  had  nothing  new  to  say  on  this  subject,  I 
might  very  easily  have  managed,  by  consulting  old 
authors,  by  transposing  a  sentence  here  and  changing  a 
word  there,  to  have  sent  forth  into  the  equestrian  world 
another  inutility.  But  I  had  other  ideas;  I  wished  to 
make  a  thorough  reform.  My  system  for  giving  a  good 
seat  to  the  rider,  being  also  an  innovation,  I  feared  lest 
so  many  new  things  at  one  time  should  alarm  even  the 
best  intentioned  amateurs,  and  give  a  hold  to  my  adver- 
saries. They  would  not  have  failed  to  say  that  my 
means  of  managing  a  horse  were  impracticable,  or 
that    they    could    not    be    applied    without     recourse 


18  NEW  METHOD  OF  HORSEMANSHIP. 

to  a  seat  still  more  impracticable.  But  now  I  have 
proved  the  contrary — that,  upon  my  plan,  horses  have 
been  broken  by  troops  without  regard  to  the  men's 
seat.  To  give  more  force  to  my  method,  and  render  it 
more  easily  comprehensible,  I  have  divested  it  of  all 
accessories,  and  said  nothing  about  those  new  principles 
that  concern  the  rider's  seat.  I  reserved  these  last  until 
after  the  indisputable  success  of  the  official  trials.  By 
means  of  these  principles,  added  to  those  I  have  publish- 
ed upon  the  art  of  horse-breaking,  I  both  shorten  the 
man's  work,  and  establish  a  system  not  only  precise,  but 
complete  in  these  two  important  parts  of  horsemanship, 
hitherto  so  confused. 

By  following  my  new  instructions  relating  to  the  man's 
seat  on  horseback,  we  will  promptly  arrive  at  a  certain 
result ;  they  are  as  easy  to  understand  as  to  demonstrate. 
Two  sentences  are  sufficient  to  explain  all  to  the  rider, 
and  he  will  get  a  good  seat  by  the  simple  advice  of  the 
instructor. 

The  seat  of  the  rider. — The  rider  will  expand  his  chest 
as  much  as  possible,  so  that  each  part  of  his  body  rests 
upon  tliat  next  below  it,  for  the  purpose  of  increasing 
the  adhesion  of  his  buttocks  to  the  saddle;  the  arms  will 
fall  easily  by  the  sides.  The  thighs  and  legs  must,  by 
their  own  strength,  find  as  many  points  of  contact  as 
possible  with  the  saddle  and  the  horse's  sides;  the  feet 
will  naturally  follow  the  motion  of  the  legs. 

You  see  by  these  few  lines  how  simple  the  rider's 
seat  is. 

The  means  which  I  point  out  for  quickly  obtaining  a 
good  seat,  remove  all  the  difficulties  which  the  plan  pur- 
sued by  our  predecessors  presented.  The  pupil  used  to 
understand  nothing  of  the  long  catechism,  recited  in  a 
loud  voice  by  the  instructor,  from  the  first  word  to  the 


PREPAllATORY    LESSON.  19 

last,  consequently  he  could  not  execute  it.  Here  one 
word  replaces  all  those  sentences;  but  we  previously  go 
through  a  course  of  supplings.  This  course  will  make 
the  rider  expert,  and  consequently  intelligent.  One 
month  will  not  elapse  without  the  most  stupid  and  awk- 
ward recruit  being  able  to  seat  himself  properly  without 
the  aid  of  the  word  of  command. 

Preparatory  lesson  {the  lesson  to  last  an  hour,  tioo 
lessons  a  day  for  a  month). —  The  horse  is  led  upon  the 
ground,  saddled  and  bridled.  The  instructor  must  take 
two  pupils ;  one  will  hold  the  horse  by  the  bridle,  all  the 
while  watching  what  the  other  does,  that  he  may  be  able 
to  perform  in  his  turn.  The  pupil  will  approach  the 
horse's  shoulder  and  prepare  to  mount ;  for  this  purpose 
he  will  lay  hold  of  and  separate,  with  the  right  hand,  a 
handful  of  mane,  and  pass  it  into  the  left  hand,  taking 
hold  as  near  the  roots  as  possible,  without  twisting 
them ;  he  will  seize  the  pommel  of  the  saddle  with  the 
right  hand,  the  four  fingers  in,  and  the  thumb  outside; 
then  springing  lightly,  will  raise  himself  upon  his  wrists. 
As  soon  as  his  middle  is  the  height  of  the  horse's  with- 
ers, he  will  pass  the  right  leg  over  the  croup,  without 
touching  it,  and  place  himself  lightly  in  the  saddle.  This 
vaulting  being  very  useful  in  making  the  man  active,  he 
should  be  made  to  repeat  it  eight  or  ten  times,  before 
letting  him  finally  seat  himself.  The  repetition  of  this 
will  soon  teach  him  what  he  is  able  to  do,  using  the 
powers  of  his  arms  and  loins. 

Exercise  iyi  the  saddle. — (This  is  a  stationary  exercise 
on  horseback  ;  an  old,  quiet  horse  to  be  chosen  in  pref- 
erence ;  the  reins  are  knotted,  and  hang  on  his  neck.) 
The  pupil  being  on  horseback,  the  instructor  will  exam- 
ine his  natural  position,  in  order  to  exercise  more  fre- 
quently those  parts  which  have  a  tendency  to  give  way 


20  NEW  METHOD  OF  HORSEMANSHIP. 

or  stiffen.  The  lesson  will  commence  with  the  chest. 
The  instructor  will  make  use  of  the  flexions 
of  the  loins,  which  expand  the  chest,  to  straighten  the 
upper  part  of  the  pupil's  body ;  he  whose  loins  are  slack 
will  be  made  to  hold  himself  in  this  position  for  some 
time,  without  regard  to  the  stiffness  which  this  will 
bring  along  with  it  the  first  few  times.  It  is  by  the  exer- 
tion of  force  that  the  pupil  will  become  supple,  and  not 
by  the  abandon  so  much  and  so  uselessly  recommended. 
A  movement  at  first  obtained  by  great  effort,  will,  after 
awhile,  not  require  so  much,  for  he  will  then  have  gained 
skill,  and  skill,  in  this  case,  is  but  the  result  of  exertions 
combined  and  employed  properly.  What  is  first  done 
with  twenty  pounds  of  force,  reduces  itself  afterwards  to 
fourteen,  to  ten,  to  four.  Skill  will  be  the  exertion 
reduced  to  four  pounds.  If  we  commenced  by  a  less,  we 
would  not  attain  this  result.  The  flexions  of  the  loins 
will  be  often  renewed,  allowing  the  pupil  often  to  let 
himself  down  into  his  natural  relaxed  position,  in  order 
to  make  him  properly  employ  the  force  that  quickly 
gives  a  good  position  to  the  chest.  The  body  being  well 
placed,  the  instructor  will  pass  :  1st.  To  the  lesson  of 
the  arm,  which  consists  in  moving  it  in  every  direction, 
first  bent,  and  afterwards  extended  ;  2d.  To  that  of  the 
head ;  this  must  be  turned  right  and  left  without  its 
motions  reacting  on  the  shoulders. 

When  the  lessons  of  the  chest,  arms,  and  head  give  a 
satisfactory  result,  which  ought  to  be  at  the  end  of  four 
days  (eight  lessons),  they  will  pass  to  that  of  the  legs. 

The  pupil  will  remove  one  of  his  thighs  as  far  as  pos- 
sible from  the  quarters  of  the  saddle ;  and  afterwards 
replace  it  with  a  rotatory  movement  from  without 
inwards,  in  order  to  make  it  adhere  to  the  saddle  by  as 
many  points  of  contact  as  possible.     The  instructor  will 


FLEXION   OF  THE   LEGS.  21 

watch  that  the  thigh  does  not  fall  back  heavily ;  it 
should  resume  its  position  by  a  slowly  progressive 
motion,  and  without  a  jerk.  He  ought,  moreover,  dur- 
ing the  first  lesson,  to  take  hold  of  the  pupil's  leg  and 
direct  it,  in  order  to  make  him  understand  the  proper 
way  of  performing  this  displacement.  He  will  thus  save 
him  fatigue,  and  obtain  the  result  more  quickly. 

This  kind  of  exercise,  very  fatiguing  at  first,  requires 
frequent  rests ;  it  would  be  wrong  to  prolong  the  exer- 
cise beyond  the  powers  of  the  pupil.  The  motions  of 
drawing  in  (adduction,  ^Yhich' makes  the  thigh  adhere  to 
the  saddle),  and  putting  out  {abductio?i,  which  separates 
it  from  the  saddle),  becoming  more  easy,  the  thighs  wdll 
have  acquired  a  suppleness  which  will  admit  of  their  ad- 
herence to  the  saddle  in  a  good  position.  Then  comes 
the  flexion  of  the  legs. 

Flexion  of  the  legs. — The  instructor  will  watch  that 
the  knees  always  preserve  their  perfect  adherence  to  the 
saddle.  The  leocs  will  be  swunor  backward  and  forward 
like  the  pendulum  of  a  clock  ;  that  is,  the  pupil  will  raise 
them  so  as  to  touch  the  cantle  of  the  saddle  with  his 
heels.  The  repetition  of  these  flexions  will  soon  render 
the  legs  supple,  pliable  and  independent  of  the  thighs. 
The  flexions  of  the  legs  and  thighs  will  be  continued  for 
four  days  (eight  lessons).  To  make  each  of  these  move- 
ments more  correct  and  easier,  eight  days  (or  sixteen  les- 
sons), will  be  devoted  to  it.  The  fifteen  days  (thirty  les- 
sons), which  remain  to  complete  the  month,  will  continue 
to  be  occupied  by  the  exercise  of  stationary  supplings; 
but,  in  order  that  the  pupil  may  learn  to  combine  the 
strength  of  his  arms,  and  that  of  his  loins,  he  will  be  made 
to  hold  at  arm's  length,  progressively,  weights  of  from  ten 
to  forty  pounds.  This  exercise  will  be  commenced  in  the 
least  fatiguing  position,  the    arm   being  bent,  and  the 


22  NEAV  METHOD  OF  HORSEMANSHIP. 

hand  near  the  shoulder,  and  this  flexion  will  be  contin- 
ued to  the  full  extent  of  the  arm.  The  chest  should  not 
be  affected  by  this  exercise,  but  be  kept  steady  in  the 
same  position. 

Of  the  knees. — The  strength  of  pressure  of  the  knees 
will  be  judged  of,  and  even  obtained,  by  the  aid  of  the 
following  method  :  this,  which  at  first  sight  will  perhaps 
appear  of  slight  importance,  will,  nevertheless,  bring 
about  great  results.  The  instructor  will  take  a  narrow 
piece  of  leather  about  twenty  inches  long  ;  he  will  place 
one  end  of  this  strap  between  the  pupil's  knee  and  the 
side  of  the  saddle.  The  pupil  will  make  use  of  the  force 
of  his  knees  to  prevent  its  slipping,  while  the  instructor 
will  draw  it  towards  him  slowly  and  progressively. 
This  process  will  serve  as  a  dynamometer  to  judge  of  the 
increase  of  power. 

The  strictest  watch  must  be  kept  that  each  force 
which  acts  separately  does  not  put  other  forces  in  action  ; 
that  is  to  say,  that  the  movement  of  the  arms  does  not 
influence  the  shoulders;  it  should  be  the  same  with  the 
thighs,  with  respect  to  the  body ;  the  legs,  with  respect 
to  the  thighs,  etc.,  etc.  The  displacement  and  suppling 
of  each  part  separately,  being  obtained,  the  chest  and 
seat  will  be  temporarily  displaced,  in  order  to  teach  the 
rider  to  recover  his  proper  position  without  assistance. 
This  will  be  done  as  follows :  the  instructor  being  placed 
on  one  side,  will  push  the  pupil's  hip,  so  that  his  seat  will 
be  moved  out  of  the  seat  of  the  saddle.  The  instructor 
will  then  allow  him  to  get  back  into  the  saddle,  being 
careful  to  watch  that,  in  regaining  his  seat,  he  makes 
use  of  his  hips  and  knees  only,  in  order  to  make  him  use 
only  those  parts  nearest  to  his  seat.  In  fact,  the  aid  of 
the  shoulders  would  soon  affect  the  hand,  and  this  the 
horse ;  the  assistance  of  the  legs  would  have  still  worse 


EDUCATION    OF   THE    HORSE.  23 

results.  In  a  word,  in  all  the  displacements,  the  pupil 
must  be  taught  not  to  have  recourse  in  order  to  direct 
the  horse,  to  the  means  which  keep  him  in  his  seat,  and, 
vice  versd^  not  to  employ,  in  order  to  keep  his  seat,  those 
which  direct  the  horse. 

Here,  but  a  month  has  elapsed,  and  these  equestrian 
gymnastics  have  made  a  rider  of  a  person,  who  at  first 
may  have  appeared  the  most  unfit  for  it.  Having  mas- 
tered, the  preliminary  trials,  he  will  impatiently  await 
the  first  movements  of  the  horse,  to  give  himself  up  to 
them  with  the  ease  of  an  experienced  rider. 

Fifteen  days  (thirty  lessons)  will  be  devoted  to  the 
walk,  trot  and  gallop.  Here  the  pupil  should  solely 
endeavor  to  follow  the  movements  of  the  horse  ;  there- 
fore, the  instructor  will  oblige  him  to  occupy  himself 
only  with  his  seat,  and  not  attempt  to  guide  the  horse. 
He  will  only  exact  that  the  pupil  ride,  at  first,  straight 
before  him,  then  in  every  direction,  one  rein  of  the 
snaffle  in  each  hand.  At  the  end  of  four  days  (eight 
lessons),  he  may  be  made  to  take  the  curb-rein  in  his 
left  hand. 

The  right  hand,  which  is  now  free,  must  be  held  along- 
side of  the  left,  that  he  may  early  get  the  habit  of  sitting 
square  (with  his  shoulders  on  a  level)  ;  the  horse  will 
trot  equally  to  the  right  and  to  the  left.  When  the 
seat  is  firmly  settled  at  all  the  paces,  the  instructor  will 
explain  simply,  the  connection  between  the  wrist  and  the 
legs,  as  well  as  their  separate  effects. 

Education  of  the  horse. — Here  the  rider  will  commence 
the  horse's  education,  by  following  the  progression  I 
have  pointed  out,  and  which  will  be  found  farther  on. 
The  pupil  will  be  made  to  understand  all  that  there  is 
rational  in  it,  and  what  an  intimate  connection  exists 
between  the  education  of  the  man  and  that  ofthehorsGi 


24  NEW  METHOD  OF  HORSEMANSHIP. 

Recapitulation  and  progression. — 


Days.  Lessons. 


1.  Flexion  of  the  loins  to  expand  the 

chest  4         8 

2.  Extending   and   replacing    of    the 

thighs,  and  flexion  of  the  legs  4         8 

3.  General  exercise  of  all  the  parts  in 
succession  8       16 

4.  Displacement  of  the  man's  body, 
exercise   of   the   knees    and   arms    with 

weights  in  the  hands  15       30 

5.  Position  of  the  rider,  the  horse  be- 
ing at  a  walk,  trot  and  gallop,  in  order 
to  fashion  and  settle  the  seat  at  these 

different  paces  15       30 

6.  Education  of  the  horse  by  the  rider  1o     150 

Total  121     242 


CHAPTER  II. 

OF  THE  FORCES  OF  THE  HORSE. 

Of  their  causes  and  effects. — The  horse,  like  all  organ- 
ized beings,  is  possessed  of  a  weight  and  a  force  peculiar 
to  himself.  The  weight  inherent  to  the  material  of  which 
the  animal  is  composed,  renders  the  mass  inert,  and  tends 
to  fix  it  to  the  ground.  The  f^rce,  on  the  contrary,  by 
the  faculty  it  gives  him  of  moving  this  weight,  of  divid- 
ing it,  of  transferring  it  from  one  of  his  parts  to  another, 
communicates  movement  to  his  whole  being,  determines 
his  equilibrium,  speed  and  direction.  To  make  this 
truth  more  evident,  let  us  suppose  a  horse  in  repose.  His 
body  will  be  in  perfect  equilibrium,  if  each  of  its  mem- 
bers ^ipports  exactly  that  part  of  the  weight  which  de- 
volves upon  it  in  this  position.  If  he  wishes  to  move 
forward  at  a  walk,  he  must  first  transfer  that  part  of  the 
weight  resting  on  the  leg  he  moves  first  to  those  that 
will  remain  fixed  to  the  ground.  It  will  be  the  same 
thing  in  other  paces,  the  transfer  acting  from  one  diago- 
nal to  the  other  in  the  trot,  from  the  front  to  the  rear, 
and  reciprocally  in  the  gallop.  We  must  not  then  con- 
found the  weight  with  the  force ;  tlie  latter  determines, 
the  former  is  subordinate  to  it.  It  is  by  carrying  the 
weight  from  one  extremity  to  the  other  that  the  force 
puts  them  in  motion,  or  makes  them  stationary.  The 
slowness  or  quickness  of  the  transfers  fixes  the  difierent 
paces,  which  are  correct  or  false,  even  or  uneven,  accord- 


26  NEW  METHOD  OF  HORSEMANSHIP. 

ing  as  these  transfers  are  executed  with  correctness  or 
irregularity. 

It  is  understood  that  this  motive  power  is  subdivided 
ad  infinitum^  since  it  is  spread  over  all  the  muscles  of  the 
animal.  When  the  latter  himself  determines  the  use  of 
them,  the  forces  are  instinctive  ;  I  call  them  transmitted 
when  they  emanate  from  the  rider.  In  the  first  case, 
the  man  governed  by  his  horse  remains  the  plaything  of 
his  caprices ;  in  the  second,  on  the  contrary,  he  makes 
him  a  docile  instrument,  submissive  to  all  the  impulses 
of  his  will.  The  horse,  then,  from  the  moment  he  is 
mounted,  should  only  act  by  transmitted  forces.  The 
invariable  application  of  this  principle  constitutes  the 
true  talent  of  the  horseman. 

But  such  a  result  cannot  be  attained  instantaneously. 
The  young  horse,  in  freedom,  having  been  accustomed 
to  regulate  his  own  movements,  will,  at  first,  submit 
with  difficulty  to  the  strange  influence  which  comes  to 
take  the  entire  control  of  them.  A  struggle  necessarily 
ensues  between  the  horse  and  his  rider,  who  will  be 
overcome  unless  he  is  possessed  of  energy,  patience,  and, 
above  all,  the  knowledge  necessary  to  gain  his  point. 
The  forces  of  the  animal  being  the  element  upon  which 
the  rider  must  principally  work,  first  to  conquer,  and 
finally  to  direct  them,  it  is  necessary  he  should  fix  his 
attention  upon  these  before  anything  else.  He  will 
study  what  they  are,  whence  they  spring,  the  parts 
where  they  contract  the  most  for  resistance,  the  physical 
causes  which  occasion  these  contractions.  When  this  is 
discovered,  he  will  proceed  with  his  pupil  by  means  in 
accordance  with  his  nature,  and  his  progress  will  then  be 
rapid. 

Unfortunately,  we  search  in  vain  in  ancient  or  modern 
authors,  on  horsemanship,  I  will  not  say  for  rational 


FORCES    OF    THE    IIOKSE.  27 

principles,  but  even  for  any  data  in  connection  with  the 
forces  of  the  horse.  All  speak  very  prettily  about 
resistances,  oppositions,  lightness  and  equilibrium ;  but 
none  of  them  have  known  how  to  tell  us  what  causes 
these  resistances,  how  we  can  combat  them,  destroy 
them,  and  obtain  this  lightness  and  equilibrium  they  so 
earnestly  recommend.  It  is  this  gap  that  has  caused  the 
great  doubts  and  obscurity  about  the  principles  of  horse- 
manship ;  it  is  this  that  has  made  the  art  stationary  so 
long  a  time ;  it  is  this  gap  that,  I  think,  I  am  able  to 
fillup. 

And  first,  I  lay  down  the  principle  that  all  the  resist- 
ances of  young  horses  spring,  in  the  first  place,  from  a 
physical  cause,  and  that  this  cause  only  becomes  a  moral 
one  by  the  awkwardness,  ignorance  and  brutality  of  the 
rider.  In  fact,  besides  the  natural  stiffness  peculiar  to 
all  these  animals,  each  of  them  has  a  peculiar  conforma- 
tion, the  more  or  less  of  perfection  in  which  constitutes 
the  degree  of  harmony  that  exists  between  the  forces 
and  the  weight.  The  want  of  this  harmony  occasions 
the  ungracefulness  of  their  paces,  the  difficulty  of  their 
movements ;  in  a  word,  all  the  obstacles  to  a  good  educa- 
tion. In  a  state  of  freedom,  whatever  may  be  the  bad 
structure  of  the  horse,  instinct  is  sufficient  to  enable  him 
to  make  such  a  use  of  his  forces  as  to  maintain  his  equi- 
librium ;  but  there  are  movements  it  is  impossible  for 
him  to  make  until  a  preparatory  exercise  shall  have  put 
him  in  the  way  of  supplying  the  defects  of  his  organiza- 
tion by  a  better  combined  use  of  his  motive  power.  A 
horse  puts  himself  in  motion  only  in  consequence  of  a 
given  position ;  if  his  forces  are  such  as  to  oppose  them- 
selves to  this  position,  they  must  first  be  annulled,  in 
order  to  replace  them  by  the  only  ones  which  can  lead 
to  it. 


28  I^EW    METHOD    OF    HORSEMANSHIP. 

Now,  I  ask,  if  before  overcoming  these  first  obstacles, 
the  rider  adds  to  them  the  weight  of  his  own  body,  and 
his  unreasonable  demands,  will  not  the  animal  experience 
still  greater  difiiculty  in  executing  certain  movements? 
The  efforts  we  make  to  compel  him  to  submission,  being 
contrary  to  his  nature,  will  they  not  find  in  it  an  insur- 
mountable obstacle?  He  will  naturally  resist,  and  with 
so  much  the  more  advantage,  that  the  bad  distribution 
of  his  forces  will  of  itself  be  sufficient  to  paralyze  those 
of  the  rider.  The  resistance  then  emanates,  in  this  case, 
from  a  physical  cause:  which  becomes  a  moral  one  from 
the  moment  when,  the  struggle  going  on  with  the  same 
processes,  the  horse  begins  of  his  own  accord  to  combine 
means  of  resisting  the  torture  imposed  on-  him,  when 
we  undertake  to  force  into  operation  parts  which  have 
not  previously  been  supplied. 

When  things  get  into  this  state,  they  can  only  grow 
worse.  The  rider,  soon  disgusted  with  the  impotence  of 
liis  efforts,  will  cast  back  upon  the  horse  the  responsibil- 
ity of  his  own  ignorance;  he  will  brand  as  a  jade  an 
animal  possessing  the  most  brilliant  resources,  and  of 
whom,  with  more  discernment  and  tact,  he  could  have 
made  a  hackney  as  docile  in  character,  as  graceful  and 
agreeable  in  his  paces.  I  have  often  remarked  that 
horses  considered  indomitable  are  those  which  develop 
the  most  energy  and  vigor,  when  we  know  how  to  rem- 
edy those  physical  defects  which  prevent  their  making 
use  of  them.  As  to  those  which,  in  spite  of  their  bad 
formation,  are  by  a  similar  system  made  to  show  a  sem- 
blance of  obedience,  we  need  thank  nothing  but  the  soft- 
ness of  their  nature ;  if  they  can  be  made  to  submit  to 
the  simplest  exercises,  it  is  only  on  condition  that  we  do 
not  demand  anything  more  of  them,  for  they  would  soon 
find  their  energy  again  to  resist  any  further  attempts. 


THE    OLD    METHODS.  29 

The  rider  can  then  make  them  go  along  at  different  paces 
to  be  sure ;  but  how  disconnected,  how  stiff,  how 
ungraceful  in  their  movements,  and  how  ridiculous  such 
steeds  make  their -unfortunate  riders  look,  as  they  tos:» 
them  about  at  will,  instead  of  being  guided  by  them! 
This  state  of  things  is  all  perfectly  natural,  unless  we 
destroy  the  first  cause  of  it:  tJie  bad  distribution  of  their 
forces,  and  the  stiffness  caused  by  a  bad  conformation. 

But,  it  is  objected,  since  you  allow  that  these  difficul- 
ties are  caused  by  the  formation  of  the  horse,  how  is  it 
possible  to  remedy  them  ?  You  do  not  possibly  pretend 
to  change  the  structure  of  the  animal  and  reform  the 
work  of  nature  ?  Undoubtedly  not ;  but  while  I  confess 
that  it  is  impossible  to  give  more  breadth  to  a  narrow 
chest,  to  lengthen  tco  short  a  neck,  to  lower  too  high  a 
croup,  to  shorten  and  fill  out  long,  weak,  narrow  loins,  I 
do  not  the  less  insist  that  if  I  prevent  the  different  con- 
tractions occasioned  by  these  physical  defects,  if  I  supply 
the  muscles,  if  I  make  myself  master  of  the  forces  so  as 
to  use  them  at  will,  it  will  be  easy  for  me  to  prevent 
these  resistances,  to  give  more  action  to  the  weak  parts, 
and  to  moderate  those  that  are  too  vigorous,  and  thus 
make  up  for  the  deficiencies  of  nature. 

Such  results,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  were  and  still 
are  forever  denied  to  the  old  methods.  But  if  the 
science  of  those  who  follow  the  old  beaten  track  finds  so 
constant  an  obstacle  in  the  great  number  of  horses  of 
defective  formation,  there  are,  unfortunately,  some  horses 
who,  by  the  perfection  of  their  organization,  and  the 
consequent  facility  of  their  education,  contribute  greatly 
to  perpetuate  the  impotent  routines  that  have  been  so 
unfavorable  to  the  progress  of  horsemanship.  A  well 
constituted  horse  is  one,  all  of  whose  parts  being  regu- 
larly harmonized,  induce  the  perfect  equilibrium  of  the 


30  NEAV    METHOD    OF    IIORSEMAXSHIP. 

whole.  It  would  be  as  difficult  for  such  a  subject  to 
leave  this  natural  equilibrium,  and  take  up  an  improper 
position  for  tlie  purpose  of  resistance,  as  it  is  at  first 
painful  for  the  badly  formed  horse  to  come  into  that  just 
distribution  of  forces,  without  which  no  regularity  of 
movement  can  be  hoped  for. 

It  is  then  only  in  the  education  of  these  last  that  the 
real  difficulties  of  horsemanship  consist.  With  the 
others  the  breaking  ought  to  be,  so  to  say,  instantane- 
ous, since  all  the  springs  being  in  their  places,  there  is 
nothing  to  be  done  but  to  put  them  in  motion ;  this  result 
is  always  obtained  by  my  method.  Yet  the  old  princi- 
ples demand  two  or  three  years  to  reach  this  point,  and 
when  by  feeling  your  way  without  any  certainty  of 
success,  the  horseman  gifted  with  some  tact  and  expe- 
rience, ends  by  accustoming  the  horse  to  obey  the 
impressions  communicated  to  him,  he  imagines  that  he 
has  surmounted  great  difficulties,  and  attributes  to  his 
skill  a  state  so  near  that  of  nature  that  correct  principles 
would  have  obtained  it  in  a  few  days.  Then  as  the 
animal  continues  to  display  in  all  his  movements  the 
grace  and  lightness  natural  to  his  beautiful  formation, 
the  rider  does  not  scruple  to  take  all  the  merit  to  him- 
self, thus  showing  himself  as  presumptuous  in  this  case 
as  he  was  unjust  when  he  would  make  the  badly  formed 
horse  responsible  for  the  failure  of  his  attempts. 

If  we  once  admit  these  truths  : 

That  the  education  of  the  horse  consists  in  the  com* 
plete  subjection  of  his  powers  ; 

That  we  can  only  make  use  of  his  powers  at  will  by 
annulling  all  resistances ; 

And  that  these  resistances  have  their  source  in  the 
contractions  occasioned  by  physical  defects ; 

The  only  thing  will  be  to  seek  out  the  parts  where 


BECIPROCAL   CONTRACTIONS.  31 

these  contractions  operate,  in  order  to  endeavor  to 
oppose  and  destroy  them. 

Long  and  conscientious  observations  have  shown  me 
that,  whatever  be  the  fault  of  formation  that  in  the 
horse  prevents  a  just  distribution  of  liis  forces,  it  is 
always  in  the  neck  that  the  most  immediate  effect  is  felt. 
There  is  no  improper  movement,  no  resistance  that  is 
not  preceded  by  the  contraction  of  this  part  of  the  ani- 
mal ;  and  as  the  jaw  is  intimately  connected  with  the 
neck,  the  stiffness  of  the  one  is  instantly  communicated 
to  the  other.  These  two  points  are  the  prop  upon 
which  the  horse  rests,  in  order  to  annul  all  the  rider's 
efforts.  We  can  easily  conceive  the  immense  obstacle 
they  must  present  to  the  impulsions  of  the  latter,  since 
the  neck  and  head,  being  the  two  p3-incipal  levers  by 
which  we  direct  the  animal,  it  is  impossible  to  obtain 
anything  from  him  until  we  are  master  of  these  first  and 
indispensable  means  of  action.  Behind,  the  parts  where 
the  forces  contract  the  most  for  resistance,  are  the  loins 
and  the  croup  (the  haunches). 

The  contractions  of  these  two  opposite  extremities  are, 
mutually  the  one  to  the  other,  causes  and  effects,  that  is 
to  say,  the  stiffness  of  the  neck  induces  that  of  the 
haunches,  and  reciprocally.  We  can  combat  the  one  by 
the  other  ;  and  as  soon  as  we  have  succeeded  in  annulling 
them,  as  soon  as  we  have  re-established  the  equilibrium 
and  harmony  that  they  prevented  between  the  fore  and 
hind-parts,  the  education  of  the  horse  will  be  half  finished. 
I  will  now  point  out  the  means  of  infallibly  arriving  at 
this  result. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  SUPPLINGS. 

This  work  being  an  exposition  of  a  method  which  up- 
sets most  of  the  old  principles  of  horsemanship,  it  is 
understood  that  I  only  address  men  already  conversant 
with  the  art,  and  who  join  to  an  assured  seat  a  sufficiently 
great  familiarity  with  the  horse,  to  understand  all  that 
concerns  his  mechanism.  I  will  not,  then,  revert  to  the 
elementary  processes ;  it  is  for  the  instructor  to  judge  if 
his  pupil  possesses  a  proper  degree  of  solidity  of  seat, 
and  is  sufficiently  a  part  of  the  horse;  for  at  the  same 
time  that  a  good  seat  produces  this  identification,  it 
favors  the  easy  and  regular  play  of  the  rider's  extremities. 

My  present  object  is  to  treat  principally  of  the  educa- 
tion of  the  horse  ;  but  this  education  is  too  intimately 
bound  up  in  that  of  the  rider,  for  him  to  make  much 
progress  in  one  without  the  other.  In  explaining  the 
processes  which  should  produce  perfection  in  the  animal, 
I  will  necessarily  teach  the  horseman  to  apply  them  him- 
self; he  will  only  have  to  practise  to-morrow  what  I 
teach  him  to-day.  Nevertheless,'  there  is  one  thing  that 
no  precept  can  give ;  that  is,  a  fineness  of  touch,  a  deli- 
cacy of  equestrian  feeling  that  belongs  only  to  certain 
privileged  organizations,  and  without  which,  we  seek  in 
vain  to  pass  certain  limits.  Having  said  this,  we  will 
return  to  our  subject. 

We  now  know  which  are  the  parts  of  the  horse  that 
contract  the  most  in  resistances,  and  we  feel   the  ncces' 


HEAD   AND    NECK.  33 

sity  of  suppling  them.  Shall  we  then  seek  to  attack, 
exercise  and  conquer  them  all  at  once  ?  No ;  this  would 
be  to  fall  back  into  the  old  error,  of  the  inefficiency  of 
which  we  are  convinced.  The  animal's  muscular  power 
is  infinitely  superior  to  ours ;  his  instinctive  forces,  more- 
over, being  able  to  sustain  themselves  the  one  by  the 
others,  we  will  inevitably  be  conquered  if  we  set  them  in 
motion  all  at  once.  Since  the  contractions  have  their 
seat  in  separate  parts,  let  us  profit  by  this  division  to 
combat  them  separately,  as  a  skillful  general  destroys,  in 
detail,  forces  which,  when  together,  he  would  be  unable 
to  resist. 

For  the  rest,  whatever  the  age,  the  disposition,  and 
the  structure  of  my  pupil,  my  course  of  proceeding  at 
the  start  will  be  always  the  same.  The  results  will  only 
be  more  or  less  prompt  and  easy,  according  to  the  de- 
gree of  perfection  in  his  nature,  and  the  influence  of  the 
hand  to  which  he  has  been  previously  subjected.  The 
suppling,  which  will  have  no  other  object  in  the  case  of 
a  well-made  horse  than  that  of  preparing  his  forces  to 
yield  to  our  impulsions,  will  re-establish  calm  and  confi- 
dence in  a  horse  that  has  been  badly  handled,  and  in  a 
defective  formation  will  make  those  contractions  disap- 
pear, which  are  the  causes  of  resistances,  and  the  only 
obstacles  to  a  perfect  equilibrium.  The  difficulties  to 
be  surmounted  will  be  in  proportion  to  this  complication 
of  obstacles,  and  will  quickly  disappear  with  a  little  per- 
severance on  our  part.  In  the  progression  we  are  about 
to  pursue  in  order  to  subject  the  diffiirent  parts  of  the 
animal  to  suppling,  we  will  naturally  commence  with  the 
most  important  parts,  that  is  to  say,  with  the  jaw  and 
neck. 

The  head  and  neck  of  the  horse  are  at  once  the  rudder 
and  compass  of  the  rider.     By  them  he  directs  the  ani- 


34  NEW    METHOD    OF    HORSEMANSHIP. 

mal ;  by  them,  also,  lie  can  judge  of  the  regularity  and 
precision  of  his  movements.  The  equilibrium  of  the 
whole  body  is  perfect,  its  lightness  complete,  when  the 
head  and  neck  remain  of  themselves  easy,  pliable  and 
graceful.  On  the  contrary,  there  can  be  no  elegance,  no 
ease  of  the  whole,  when  these  two  parts  are  stiff.  Pre- 
ceding the  body  of  the  horse  in  all  its  impulsions,  they 
ought  to  give  warning,  and  show  by  their  attitude  the 
positions  to  be  taken,  and  the  movements  to  be  e;i:ecuted. 
The  rider  has  no  power  so  long  as  they  remain  contract- 
ed and  rebellious;  he  disposes  of  the  animal  at  will, 
when  once  they  are  flexible  and  easily  handled.  If  the 
head  and  neck  do  not  first  commence  the  changes  of 
direction,  if  in  circular  movements  they  are  not  inclined 
in  a  curved  line,  if  in  backing  they  do  not  bend  back 
npon  themselves,  and  if  their  lightness  is  not  always  in 
harmony  with  the  different  paces  at  which  we  wish  to  go, 
the  horse  will  be  free  to  execute  these  movements  or  not, 
since  he  will  remain  master  of  the  employment  of  his 
own  forces. 

From  the  time  I  first  noticed  the  powerful  influence 
that  the  stiffness  of  the  neck  exercises  on  the  whole 
mechanism  of  the  horse,  I  attentively  sought  the  means 
to  remedy  it.  The  resistances  to  the  band  are  always 
either  sideways,  upward  or  downward.  I  at  first  con- 
sidered the  neck  alone  as  the  source  of  these  resistances, 
and  exercised  myself  in  suppling  the  animal  by  flexions, 
repeated  in  every  direction.  The  result  was  immense  ; 
but,  although,  at  the  end  of  a  certain  time,  thesupplings 
of  the  neck  rendered  me  perfectly  master  of  the  forces 
of  the  fore-parts  of  the  horse,  I  still  felt  a  slight  resist- 
ance which  I  could  not  at  first  account  for.  At  last  I 
discovered  that  it  proceeded  from  the  jaw.  The  flexibil- 
ity I  had  communicated  to  the  neck  even  aided  this  stiff- 


FIRST    EXERCISE    OX    FOOT.  35 

ness  of  the  muscles  of  the  lower  jaw,  by  permitting  the 
horse  in  certain  cases  to  escape  the  action  of  the  bit.  I 
then  bethought  me  of  the  means  of  combating  these 
resistances  in  this,  their  last  stronghold  ;  and,  from  that 
time,  it  is  there  I  always  commence  my  work  of 
suppling. 

First  exercise  o?i  foot. — Means  of  making  the  horse 
come  to  the  man,  of  making  him  steady  to  mount, 
etc.,  etc. 

Before  commencing  the  exercises  of  flexions,  it  is  essen- 
tial to  give  the  horse  a  first  lesson  of  subjection,  and 
teach  him  to  recognize  the  power  of  man.  This  first  act 
of  submission,  which  might  appear  unimportant,  will 
have  the  effect  of  quickly  rendering  him  calm,  of  giving 
him  confidence,  and  of  repressing  all  those  movements 
which  might  distract  his  attention,  and  mar  the  success 
of  the  commencement  of  his  education. 

Two  lessons,  of  a  half  hour  each,  will  suffice  to  obtain 
the  preparatory  obedience  of  every  horse.  The  pleasure 
we  experience  in  thus  playing  with  him  will  naturally 
lead  the  rider  to  continue  this  exercise  for  a  few  moments 
each  day,  and  make  it  both  instructive  to  the  horse  and 
useful  to  himself.  The  mode  of  proceeding  is  as  follows : 
the  rider  will  approach  the  horse,  his  whip  under  his  arm, 
without  roughness  or  timidity;  he  will  speak  to  him 
without  raising  the  voice  too  much,  and  will  pat  him  on 
the  face  and  neck ;  then  with  the  left  hand  will  lay  hold 
of  the  curb-reins,  about  six  or  seven  inches  from  the 
branches  of  the  bit,  keeping  his  wrist  stiff,  so  as  to  pre- 
sent as  much  force  as  possible  when  the  horse  resists. 
The  whip  will  be  held  firmly  in  the  right  hand,  the  point 
towards  the  ground,  then  slowly  raised  as  high  as  his 
chest,  in  order  to  tap  it  at  intervals  of  a  second.  The 
first  natural  movement  of  the  horse  will  be  to  withdraw 


36  NEW    METHOD    OP    UORSEMANSniP. 

from  the  direction  in  which  the  pain  comes ;  it  is  by  back- 
ing that  he  will  endeavor  to  do  this.  The  rider  will  fol- 
low this  backward  movement  without  discontinuing  the 
firm  tension  of  the  reins,  nor  the  little  taps  with  the  whip 
on  the  breast,  applying  them  all  the  time  with  the  same 
degree  of  intensity.  The  rider  should  be  perfectly  self- 
possessed,  that  there  may  be  no  indication  of  anger  or 
weakness  in  his  motions  or  looks.  Becoming  tired  of  this 
constraint,  the  horse  will  soon  seek  by  another  movement 
to  avoid  the  infliction,  and  it  is  by  coming  forward  that 
he  will  arrive  at  it ;  the  rider  will  seize  this  second  in- 
stinctive movement  to  stop  and  caress  the  animal  with 
his  hand  and  voice.  The  repetition  of  this  exercise  will 
give  the  most  surprising  results,  even  in  the  first  lesson. 
The  horse  having  discovered  and  understood  the  means 
by  which  he  can  avoid  the  pain,  will  not  wait  till  the 
whip  touches  him,  he  will  anticipate  it  by  rushing'  for- 
ward at  the  least  gesture.  The  rider  will  take  advantage 
of  this  to  effect,  by  a  downward  force  of  the  bridle  hand, 
the  depression  of  the  neck,  and  the  getting  him  in  hand ; 
he  will  thus  early  dispose  the  horse  for  the  exercise*  that 
are  to  follow. 

This  training,  besides  being  a  great  recreation,  will 
serve  to  make  the  horse  steady  to  mount,  will  greatly 
abridge  his  education  and  accelerate  the  development  of 
liis  intelligence.  Should  the  horse,  by  reason  of  his 
restless  or  wild  nature,  become  very  unruly,  we  should 
have  recourse  to  the  cavesson,  as  a  means  of  repressing 
his  disorderly  movements,  and  use  it  with  little  jerks.  I 
would  add  that  it  requires  great  prudence  and  discern- 
ment to  use  it  with  tact  and  moderation. 

Flexion  of  the  jaw. — The  flexions  of  the  jaw,  as  well 
as  the  two  flexions  of  the  neck  which  follow,  are  executed 
standing  siill,  the  man  on  foot.     The  horse  will  be  led 


FLEXION    OF    JAW.  87 

on  the  ground  saddled  and  bridled,  the  reins  on  liis 
neck.  The  man  will  first  see  that  the  bit  is  properly- 
placed  in  the  horse's  mouth,  and  that  the  curb-chain  is 
fastened  so  that  he  can  introduce  his  finger  between  the 
links  and  the  horse's  chin.  Then  looking  the  animal 
good-naturedly  in  the  eyes,  he  will  place  himself  before 
him  near  his  head,  holding  his  body  straight  and  firm, 
his  feet  a  little  apart  to  steady  himself,  and  dispose 
himself  to  struggle  with  advantage  against  all  resist- 
ances.* 

1st.  In  order  to  execute  the  flexion  to  the  right,  the 
man  will  take  hold  of  the  right  curb-rein  with  the  right 
hand,  at  about  six  inches  from  the  branch  of  the  bit,  and 
the  left  rein  with  the  left  hand,  at  only  three  inches  from 
the  left  branch.  He  will  then  draw  his  right  hand 
towards  his  body,  pushing  out  his  left  hand  so  as  to  turn 
the  bit  in  the  horse's  mouth.  The  force  employed  ought 
to  be  entirely  determined  by  and  proportioned  to  the 
resistance  of  the  jaw  and  neck  only,  in  order  not  to  afiect 
the  aplomb^  which  keeps  his  body  still.  If  the  horse 
backs  to  avoid  the  flexion,  the  opposition  of  the  hands 
should  still  be  continued.  If  the  preceding  exercise  has 
been  completely  and  carefully  practised,  it  will  be  easy 
by  the  aid  of  the  whip  to  prevent  this  retrograde  move- 
ment, which  is  a  great  obstacle  to  all  kinds  of  flexions  of 
the  jaw  and  neck.     (Plate  I.) 

2d.  As  soon  as  the  flexion  is  obtained,  the  left  hand 
will  let  the  left  rein  slip  to  the  same  length  as  the  right, 
then  drawing  the  two  reins  equally  will  bring  the  head 
near  to  the  breast,  in  order  to  hold   it  there  oblique  and 


•  I  have  divided  all  the  flexions  into  two  parts,  and,  in  order  to  facilitate 
the  understanding  of  the  text,  I  have  added  to  it  plates  representing  the 
position  of  the  horse  at  the  moment  the  flexion  is  about  to  commence,  and  at 
the  moment  it  is  terminated. 


38  NEW    METHOD    OF    HORSEMANSHIP. 

perpendicular,  until  it  sustains  itself  without  assistance 
in  this  position.  The  horse  by  champing  the  bit  will 
show  his  being  in  hand  as  well  as  his  perfect  submis- 
sion. The  man,  to  reward  him,  will  cease  drawing  on 
the  reins  immediately,  and  after  some  seconds  will  allow 
him  to  resume  his  natural  position.     (Plate  II.) 

The  flexion  of  the  jaw  to  the  left  is  executed  upon  the 
same  principles  and  by  inverse  means  to  the  flexion  to  the 
right,  the  man  being  careful  to  pass  alternately  from  one 
to  the  other. 

The  importance  of  these  flexions  of  the  jaw  is  easily 
understood.  The  result  of  them  is  to  prepare  the  horse 
to  yield  instantly  to  the  lightest  pressure  of  the  bit^  and 
to  supple  directly  the  muscles  that  join  the  head  to  the 
neck.  As  the  head  ought  to  precede  and  determine  the 
different  attitudes  of  the  neck,  it  is  indispensable  that  the 
latter  part  be  always  in  subjection  to  the  other,  and  re- 
spond to  its  impulsions.  That  would  be  only  partially 
the  case  with  the  flexibility  of  the  neck  alone,  which 
would  then  make  the  head  obey  it,  by  drawing  it  along 
in  its  movements.  You  see,  then,  why  at  first  I  experi- 
enced resistances,  in  spite  of  the  pliability  of  the  neck,  of 
which  I  could  not  imagine  the  cause.  The  followers  of 
my  method  to  whom  I  have  not  yet  had  an  opportunity 
of  making  known  the  new  means  just  explained,  will 
learn  with  pleasure  that  this  process  not  only  brings  the 
flexibility  of  the  neck  to  a  greater  degree  of  perfection, 
but  saves  much  time  in  finishing  the  suppling.  The  exer- 
cise of  the  jaw,  while  fashioning  the  mouth  and  head, 
brings  along  with  it  the  flexion  of  the  neck,  and  accele- 
rates the  getting  the  horse  in  hand. 

This  exercise  is  the  first  of  our  attempts  to  accustom 
the  forces  of  the  horse  to  yield  lo  ours.  It  is  necessary, 
then,  to  manage  it  very  nicely,  so  as  not  to  discourage 


FLEXIONS    OF   THE    JAW. 


39 


Plate  I. 


Plate  H. 


40  XEW  METHOD    OF    IIOKSEMAXSHIP. 

him  at  first.  To  enter  on  the  flexion  roughly  would  be 
to  shock  the  animal's  intelligence,  who  would  not  have 
had  time  to  comprehend  what  was  required  of  him.  The 
opposition  of  the  hands  will  be  commenced  gently 
but  firmly,  not  to  cease  until  perfect  obedience 
is  obtained,  except,  indeed,  the  horse  backs  against  a 
wall,  or  into  a  corner ;  but  it  will  diminish  or  increase 
its  eflTect  in  proportion  to  the  resistance,  in  away  always 
to  govern  it,  but  not  with  too  great  violence.  The  horse 
that  at  first  will,  perhaps,  submit  with  difficulty,  will  end 
by  regarding  the  man's  hand  as  an  irresistible  regulator, 
and  will  become  so  used  to  obeying  it,  that  he  will  soon 
obtain,  by  a  simple  pressure  of  the  rein,  what  at  first 
required  the  whole  strength  of  our  arms. 

At  each  renewal  of  the  lateral  flexions  some  progress 
will  be  made  in  the  obedience  of  the  horse.  As  soon  as 
his  first  resistances  are  a  little  diminished,  we  will  pass 
to  the  perpendicular  flexions  or  depression  of  the  neck. 

Depression  of  the  neck  by  the  direct  flexion  of  the 
jaw. —  1.  The  man  will  place  himself  as  for  the  lateral 
flexions  of  the  jaw  ;  he  will  take  hold  of  the  reins  of  the 
snaffle  with  the  left  hand,  at  six  inches  from  the  rings, 
and  the  curb-reins  at  about  two  inches  from  the  bit.  He 
will  oppose  the  two  hands  by  effecting  the  depression 
with  the  left  and  the  proper  position  with  the  right. 
(Plate  III.) 

2.  As  soon  as  the  horse's  head  shall  fall  of  its  own 
accord  and  by  its  own  weight,  the  man  will  instantly 
cease  all  kind  of  force,  a.nd  allow  the  animal  to  resume 
his  natural  position.     (Plate  IV.) 

This  exercise  being  often  repeated,  will  soon  bring 
about  the  suppling  of  the  elevating  muscles  of  the  neck, 
which  play  a  prominent  part  in  the  resistances  of  the 
horse,  and  will  besides  facilitate   the  direct  flexions  and 


DEPRESSION    OF   THE    NECK. 


41 


PLA.TB  III. 


Plate  IY. 


42  NEW  METHOD    OF    HORSEMANSHIP. 

the  getting  the  head  in  position,  which  should  follow  the 
lateral  flexions.  The  man  can  execute  this,  as  well  as 
the  preceding  exercise,  by  himself;  yet  it  would  be  well 
to  put  a  second  person  in  the  saddle,  in  order  to  accus- 
tom the  horse  to  the  exercise  of  the  supplings  with  a 
rider.  This  rider  should  just  hold  the  snafile-reins,  with- 
out drawing  on  them,  in  his  right  hand,  the  nails  down- 
ward. 

The  flexions  of  the  jaw  have  already  communicated 
suppleness  to  the  upper  part  of  the  neck,  but  we  have 
obtained  it  by  means  of  a  powerful  and  direct  motive 
power,  and  we  must  accustom  the  horse  to  yield  to  a  less 
direct  regulating  force.  Besides,  it  is  important  that 
the  pliability  and  flexibility,  especially  necessary  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  neck,  should  be  transmitted  through- 
out its  whole  extent,  so  as  todestroy  itsstifiness  entirely. 

The  force  from  above  downward,  practised  with  the 
snaflle,  acting  only  by  the  headstall  on  the  top  of  the 
head,  often  takes  too  long  to  make  the  horse  lower  his 
head.  In  this  case,  we  must  cross  the  two  snaffle-reins 
by  taking  the  left  rein  in  the  right,  and  the  right  rein  in 
the  left  hand,  about  six  or  seven  inches  from  the  horse's 
mouth,  in  si^;h  a  way  as  to  cause  a  pretty  strong  pres- 
sure upon  the  chin.  This  force,  like  all  the  others,  must 
be  continued  until  the  horse  yields.  The  flexions  being 
repeated  with  this  more  powerful  agent,  will  put  him  in 
a  condition  to  respond  to  the  means  previously  indicated. 
If  the  horse  responded  to  the  first  flexions  represented 
by  Plate  lY.,  it  would  be  unnecessary  to  make  use  of 
this  one.     (Plate  V.) 

We  can  act  directly  on  the  jaw  so  as  to  render  it 
prompt  in  moving.  To  do  this,  we  take  the  left  curb- 
rein  about  six  inches  from  the  liorse's  mouth  and  draw  it 
straight  towards  the  left    shoulder ;    at  the  same  time 


DEPRESSION   OF   THE   NECK. 


43 


44 


NEW    METHOD    OF    HORSEMANSHIP. 


o/ 


> 


LATERAL  FLEXIONS  OF  THE  NECK.         45 

draw  the  left  rein  of  the  snaffle  forward,  in  such  a  way 
that  the  wrists  of  the  person  holding  the  two  reins  shall 
be  opposite  and  on  a  level  with  each  other.  The  two  op- 
posed forces  will  soon  cause  a  separation  of  the  jaws  and 
end  all  resistance.  The  force  ought  to  be  always  pro- 
portioned to  that  of  the  horse,  whether  in  his  resistance, 
or  in  his  lightness.  Thus,  by  means  of  this  direct  force 
a  few  lessons  will  be  sufficient  to  give  a  pliability  to  the 
part  in  question  that  could  not  have  been  obtained  by 
any  other  means.     (Plate  YI.) 

Lateral  flexions  of  the  neck. — 1.  The  man  will  place 
himself  near  the  horse's  shoulder  as  for  the  flexions  of 
the  jaw  ;  he  will  take  hold  of  the  right  snaffle-rein,  which 
he  will  draw  upon  across  the  neck,  in  order  to  establish  an 
intermediate  point  between  the  impulsion  that  comes  from 
him  and  the  resistance  the  horse  presents  ;  he  will  hold  up 
the  left  rein  with  the  left  hand  about  a  foot  from  the  bit. 
As  soon  as  the  horse  endeavors  to  avoid  the  constant 
tension  of  the  right  rein  by  inclining  his  head  to  the 
right,  he  will  let  the  left  rein  slip  so  as  to  offer  no 
opposition  to  the  flexion  of  the  neck.  Whenever  the 
horse  endeavors  to  escape  the  constraint  of  the  right  rein 
by  bringing  his  croup  around,  he  will  be  brought  into 
place  again  by  slight  pulls  of  the  left  rein.     (Plate  YII.) 

2,  When  the  head  and  neck  have  entirely  yielded  to 
the  right,  the  man  will  draw  equally  on  both  reins  to 
place  the  head  perpendioularly.  Suppleness  and  lightness 
will  soon  follow  this  position,  and  as  soon  as  the  horse 
evinces,  by  champing  the  bit,  entire  freedom  from  stifi- 
ness,  the  man  will  cease  the  tension  of  the  reins,  being 
careful  that  the  head  does  not  take  advantage  of  this 
moment  of  freedom  to  displace  itself  suddenly.  In  this 
case,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  restrain  it  by  a  slight  support 
of  the  right  rein.     After  having  kept  the  horse  in  this 


46 


NEW    METHOD    OF    HORSEMANSHIP. 


Plate  VIII. 


LATERAL    rLP:XIOXS    OX    HORSEBACK.  47 

position  for  some  seconds,  he  will  make  him  resume  his 
former  position  by  drawing  on  the  left  rein.  It  is  most 
important  that  the  animal  in  all  his  movements  should  do 
nothing  of  his  own  accord.      (Plate  VIII.) 

The  flexion  of  the  neck  to  the  left  is  executed  after 
the  same  principles,  but  by  inverse  means.  The  man  can 
repeat  with  the  curb  what  he  has  previously  done  with 
the  snaffle-reins ;  but  the  snaffle  should  always  be 
employed  first,  its  effect  being  less  powerful  and  more 
direct. 

When  the  horse  submits  without  resistance  to  the  pre- 
ceding exercises,  it  will  prove  that  the  suppling  of  the 
neck  has  already  made  a  great  step.  The  rider  can, 
henceforward,  continue  his  work  by  operating  with  a  less 
direct  motive  power,  and  without  the  animal's  being 
impressed  by  the  sigh<^  of  him.  He  will  place  himself  in 
the  saddle,  and  commence  by  repeating  with  the  full 
length  of  the  reins,  the  lateral  flexions,  in  which  he  has 
already  exercised  his  horse. 

Lateral  flexions  of  the  neck^  the  man  on  horseback. — 

1.  To  execute  the  flexion  to  the  rigiit,  the  rider  will 
take  one  snaffle-rein  in  each  hand,  the  left  scarcely  feel- 
ing the  bit ;  the  right,  on  the  contrary,  giving  a  moder- 
ate impression  at  first,  but  which  will  increase  in  propor- 
tion to  the  resistance  of  the  horse,  and  in  a  way  always 
to  govern  him.  The  animal,  soon  tired  of  a  struggle 
which,  being  prolonged,  only  makes  the  pain  proceeding 
from  the  bit  more  acute,  will  understand  that  the  only 
way  to  avoid  it  is  to  incline  the  head  in  the  direction  the 
pressure  is  felt.     (Plate  IX.) 

2.  As  soon  as  the  horse's  head  is  brought  round  to  the 
right,  the  left  rein  will  form  opposition,  to  prevent  the 
nose  from  passing  beyond  the  perpendicular.  Great 
stress  should  be  laid  on  the  head's  remaining  always  in 


48  NEW  METHOD    OF    HORSEMANSHIP, 

this  position,  without  which  the  flexion  would  be  imper- 
fect and  the  suppleness  incomplete.  The  movement  be- 
ing regularly  accomplished,  the  horse  will  be  made  to 
resume  his  natural  position  by  a  slight  tension  of  the  left 
rein.     (Plate  X.) 

The  flexion  to  the  left  is  executed  in  the  same  way,  the 
rider  employing  alternately  the  snaffle  and  curb-reins. 

I  have  already  mentioned  that  it  is  of  great  importance 
to  supple  the  upper  part  of  the  neck.  After  mounting, 
and  having  obtained  the  lateral  flexions  without  resis- 
tanccjthe  rider  will  often  content  himself  with  executing 
them  half-way,  the  head  and  upper  part  of  the  neck 
pivoting  upon  the  lower  part,  which  will  serve  as  a  base 
or  axis.  This  exercise  must  be  frequently  repeated,  even 
after  the  horse's  education  is  completed,  in  order  to  keep 
up  the  pliability,  and  facilitate  the  getting  him  in  hand. 

It  now  remains  for  us,  in  order  to  complete  the  sup- 
ling  of  the  head  and  neck,  to  combat  the  contractions 
which  occasion  the  direct  resistances,  and  prevent  your 
getting  the  horse's  head  in  a  perpendicular  position. 

Direct  flexions  of  the  head  and  necTc^  or  ramener.^ — 

1.  The  rider  will  first  use  the  snafile-rtins,  which  he  will 
hold  together  in  the  left  hand  as  he  would  the  curb-reins. 
He  will  rest  the  outer  edge  of  the  right  hand  (see  Plate 
XI.)  on  the  reins  in  Iront  of  the  left  hand  in  order  to  in- 
crease the  power  of  the  right  hand ;  after  which  he  will 
gradually  bear  on  the  snaffle-bit.  As  soon  as  the  horse 
yields,  it  would  suffice  to  raise  the  right  hand  to  diminish 
the  tension  of  the  reins  and  reward  the  animal. .  As  the 
hand  must  only  present  a  force  proportioned  to  the  re- 
sistance of  the  neck,  it  will  only  be  necessary  to  hold  the 
legs  rather   close   to  prevent  backing.     When  the  horse 

*Eamener  means  to  place  the  horse'a  head  in  a  perpendicular  position.— 
Tkanslatob. 


LATERAL   FLEXIONS    ON   HORSEBACK. 


49 


50  NEW  METHOD    OP    HORSEMANSHIP. 

obeys  the  action  of  the  snaffle,  he  will  yield  much  more 
quickly  to  that  of  the  curb,  the  effect  of  which  is  so 
much  more  powerful.  The  curb,  of  course,  needs  more 
care  in  the  use  of  it  than  the  snaffle.     (Plate  XL) 

2.  The  horse  will  have  completely  yielded  to  the 
action  of  the  hand,  when  his  head  is  carried  in  a  position 
perfectly  perpendicular  to  the  ground ;  from  that  time 
the  contraction  will  cease,  which  the  animal  will  show, 
as  in  every  other  case,  by  champing  his  bit.  The  rider 
must  be  careful  not  to  be  deceived  by  the  feints  of  the 
horse— feints  which  consist  in  yielding  one-fourth  or  one- 
third  of  the  way,  and  then  hesitating.  If,  for  example, 
the  nose  of  the  horse  having  to  pass  over  a  curve  of  ten 
degrees  to  attain  the  perpendicular  position  (Plate  XL), 
should  stop  at  the  fourth  or  sixth  and  again  resist,  the 
hand  should  follow  the  movement  and  then  remain  firm 
and  immovable,  for  a  concession  on  its  part  would 
encourage  resistance  and  increase  the  difficulties.  When 
the  nose  shall  descend  to  No.  10,  the  perpendicular  posi- 
tion will  be  complete  and  the  lightness  perfect.  The 
rider  can  then  cease  the  tension  of  the  reins,  but  so  as 
to  keep  the  head  in  this  position,  if  it  should  offer  to 
leave  it.  If  he  lets  it  return  at  all  to  its  natural  situa- 
tion, it  should  be  to  draw  it  in  over  again,  and  to  make 
the  animal  underitand  that  the  perpendicular  position 
of  the  head  is  the  only  one  allowed  when  under  the 
rider's  hand.  He  should,  at  the  outset,  accustom  the 
horse  to  cease  backing  at  the  pressure  of  the  legs,  as  all 
backward  movements  would  enable  him  to  avoid  the 
effects  of  the  hand  or  create  new  means  of  resistance. 
(Plate  XXL) 

This  is  the  most  important  flexion  of  all ;  the  others 
tended  principally  to  pave  the  way  for  it.  As  soon  as  it 
is  executed  with   ease   and  promptness,  as   soon  as  a 


RAMENER. 


51 


i 


-^/ 


62  NEW  METHOD    OF    HORSEMANSHIP. 

slight  touch  is  sufficient  to  place  and  keep  the  head  in 
a  perpendicular  position,  it  will  prove  that  the  suppling 
is  complete,  contraction  destroyed,  lightness  and  equili- 
brium established  in  the  fore-hand.  The  direction  of  this 
part  of  the  animal  will,  henceforward,  be  as  easy  as  it  is 
natural,  since  we  have  put  it  in  a  condition  to  receive  all 
our  impressions,  and  instantly  to  yield  to  them  without 
effort. 

As  to  the  functions  of  the  legs,  they  must  support  the 
hind-parts  of  the  horse,  in  order  to  obtain  the  ramener, 
in  such  a  way  that  he  may  not  be  able  to  avoid  the  effect 
of  the  hand  by  a  retrograde  movement  of  his  body.  This 
complete  getting  in  hand  is  necessary  to  drive  the  hind- 
legs  under  the  centre.  In  the  first  case,  we  act  upon  the  fore- 
hand ;  in  the  second,  upon  the  hind-parts  ;  the  first  serves 
for  the  ramener^  the  second  for  the  rassemhler^  or  gather- 
ing the  horse.* 

Combination  of  effects. — I  published  four  editions  of 
my  Method,  without  devoting  a  special  article  to  the 
combination  of  effects.  Although  I  myself  made'  a  very 
frequent  use  of  it,  I  had  not  attached  sufficient  import- 
ance to  the  great  necessity  of  this  principle  in  the  case 
of  teaching ;  later  experiments  have  taught  me  to  con- 
sider it  of  more  consequence. 

The  combination  of  effects  means  the  continued  and 
exactly  opposed  force  of  the  hand  and  legs.  Its  object 
should  be  to  bring  back  again  into  a  position  of  equili- 
brium all  the  parts  of  the  horse  which  leave  it,  in  order 
to  prevent  him  from  going  ahead,  without  backing  him, 
and  vice  versd :  finally,  it  serves  to  stop  any  movement 

•  The  full  insauiug  of  the  word  rassennbler  will  be  understood  after  reading 
the  chapter,  further  on  in  this  work,  under  that  head.  With  reirard  to  the 
other  word,  ramener,  to  avoid  the  constant  circumlocution  of  saying,  "  placing 
the  horse's  head  in  a  perpendicular  position,"  it  will  be  used  in  future 
Trherever  it  occurs.— Translator. 


RESTING    THE    CHIN    ON    BKEAST.  63 

from  the  right  to  the  left,  or  the  left  to  the  right.  By 
this  means,  also,  we  distribute  the  weight  of  the  mass 
equally  on  the  four  legs,  and  produce  temporary  immo- 
bility. This  combination  of  effects  ought  to  precede  and 
follow  each  exercise  within  the  graduated  limit  assigned 
to  it.  It  is  essential  when  we  employ  the  aids  (i.  e.  the 
hand  and  legs),  in  this,  that  the  action  of  the  legs  should 
precede  the  other,  in  order  to  prevent  the  horse  from 
backing  against  any  place,  for  he  might  find,  in  this 
movement,  points  of  support  that  would  enable  him  to 
increase  his  resistance.  Thus,  all  motion  of  the 
extremities,  proceeding  from  the  horse  himself, 
should  be  stopped  by  a  combination  of  effects; 
finally,  whenever  his  forces  get  scattered,  and 
act  inharmoniously,  the  rider  will  find  in  this  a  powerful 
and  infallible  corrective. 

It  is  by  disposing  all  the  parts  of  the  horse  in  the 
most  exact  order,  that  we  will  easily  transmit  to  him  the 
impulsion  that  should  cause  the  regular  movements  of 
his  extremities ;  it  is  then  also  that  we  will  address  his 
comprehension,  and  that  he  will  appreciate  what  we 
demand  of  him ;  then  will  follow  caresses  of  the  hand 
and  voice  as  a  moral  effect ;  they  should  not  be  used, 
though,  until  after  he  has  done  what  is  demanded  of  him 
by  the  rider's  hand  and  legs. 

The  horse's  resting  his  chin  on  his  breast. — Although 
few  horses  are  disposed  by  nature  to  do  this,  it  is  not  the 
less  necessary,  when  it  does  occur,  to  practise  on  them  all 
the  flexions,  even  the  one  which  bends  down  the  neck. 
In  this  position,  the  horse's  chin  comes  back  near  the 
breast  and  rests  in  contact  with  the  lower  part  of  the 
neck;  too  high  a  croup,  joined  to  a  permanent  contrac- 
tion of  the  muscles  that  lower  the  neck,  is  generally  tho 
cause  of  it.    These   muscles   must   then  be   suppled   in 


54  NEW  METHOD    OF    HORSEMAXSHIP, 

order  to  destroy  their  intensity,  and  thereby  give  to  the 
muscles  that  raise  the  neck,  their  antagonists,  the  pre- 
dominance which  will  make  the  neck  rest  in  a  graceful 
and  useful  position.  This  first  accomplished,  the  horse 
will  be  accustomed  to  go  forward  freely  at  the  pressure 
of  the  legs,  and  to  respond,  without  abruptness  or 
excitement,  to  the  touch  of  the  spurs  [attaques) ;  the 
object  of  these  last  is  to  bring  the  hind  legs  near  the 
centre,  and  to  lower  the  croup.  The  rider  will  then 
endeavor  to  raise  the  horse's  head  by  the  aid  of  the  curb 
reins ;  in  this  case,  the  hand  will  be  held  some  distance 
above  the  saddle,  and  far  from  the  body  ;*  the  force  it 
transmits  to  the  horse  ought  to  be  continued  until  he 
yields  by  elevating  his  head.  As  these  sorts  of  horses 
have  generally  little  action,  we  must  take  care  to  avoid 
letting  the  hand  produce  an  efiect  from  the  front  to  the 
rear,  in  which  case  it  would  take  away  from  the  impulse 
necessary  for  movement.  The  pace  commencing  with 
the  walk,  must  be  kept  up  at  the  same  rate,  while  the 
hand  is  producing  an  elevating  efiect  upon  the  neck. 
This  precept  is  applicable  to  all  the  changes  of  position 
that  the  hand  makes  in  the  head  and  neck  ;  but  is  partic- 
ularly essential  in  the  case  of  a  horse  disposed  to  depress 
his  neck. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  the  horse  has  two  ways 
of  responding  to  the  pressure  of  the  bit ;  by  one,  he 
yields  but  withdraws  himself  at  the  same  time  by 
shrinking  and  coming  back  to  his  former  position ;  this 
kind  of  yielding  is  only  injurious  to  his  education,  for  if 
the  hand  is  held  too  forcibly,  if  he  does  not  wait  till  the 


*  This  position  of  the  hand  at  a  distance  from  the  saddle  and  the  body  will 
be  criticised  ;  but  let  the  rider  be  reassured,  eight  or  ten  lessons  will  suffice 
to  make  the  horse  change  the  position  of  his  head,  and  allow  the  hand  to 
resume  its  normal  position. 


FALSE    AXD    TRUE    YIELDING.  55 

horse  changes  of  his  own  accord  the  position  of  his 
head,  the  backward  movement  of  his  body  would  pre- 
cede and  be  accompanied  by  a  shifting  of  the  weight 
backwards.  In  this  case,  the  contraction  of  his  neck 
remains  all  the  while  the  same  The  second  kind  of 
yielding,  which  contributes  so  greatly  to  the  rapid  and 
certain  education  of  the  horse,  consists  in  giving  a  half  or 
three-quarter  tension  to  the  reins,  then  to  sustain  the 
hand  as  forcibly  as  possible  without  bringing  it  near 
the  body.  In  a  short  time  the  force  of  the  hand,  sec- 
onded by  the  continued  pressure  of  the  legs,  will  make 
the  horse  avoid  this  slight  but  constant  pressure  of  the 
bit,  but  by  means  of  his  head  and  neck  only.  Then  the 
rider  will  only  make  use  of  the  force  necessary  to  dis- 
place the  head.  It  is  by  this  means  that  he  will  be  able 
to  place  the  horse's  body  on  a  level,  and  will  obtain  that 
equilibrium,*  the  perfect  balance  of  which  has  not 
hitherto  been  appreciated. 

Resuming  what  we  have  just  explained  in  th*  case  of 
a  horse  w^ho  rests  his  chin  on  his  breast,  we  repeat  that 
it  is  by  producing  one  force  from  the  rear  to  the  front 
with  the  legs,  and  another  from  below  upwards  with  the 
hand,  that  we  will  soon  be  enabled  to  improve  the  posi- 

•  The  word  equilibrium,  so  often  repeated  in  the  course  of  this  vrork, 
must  be  categorically  explained.  People  have  never  rightly  understood  what 
it  means,  this  true  equilibrium  of  a  horse,  which  serves  as  the  basis  of  his 
education,  and  by  which  he  takes  instantly,  at  the  rider's  will,  such  a  pace, 
or  such  a  change  or  direction. 

It  is  not  here  a  question  of  the  equilibrium  which  prevents  the  horse  from 
falling  down,  but  of  that  upon  which  depends  his  performance,  when  it  is 
prompt,  graceful  and  regular,  and  by  means  of  which  his  paces  are  either 
measured  or  extended  at  will. 

Equilibrium  of  Baucker. 

Croup — — Sead. 

Here  the  weight  and  the  forces  are  equally  distributed.  By  means  of  this 
just  distribution  the  different  positions,  the  different  paces,  and  the  equili- 
briums that  belong  to  them,  are  obtained  without  effort  on  the  part  of 
man  or  horse. 


66  NEW  METHOD    OF    HORSEMANSHIP. 

tion  and  movements  of  the  horse.  So  that  whatever  may 
be  his  disposition  at  first,  it  is  by  first  causing  the  depres* 
sion  of  the  neck  that  we  will  quickly  gain  a  masterly  and 
perfect  elevation  of  it. 

I  will  close  this  chapter  by  some  reflections  on  the 
supposed  diflerence  of  sensibility  in  horses*  mouths,  and 
the  kind  of  bit  which  ought  to  be  used. 

Of  the  horse's  mouth  and  the  hit, — I  have  already 
treated  this  subject  at  lenglh  in  my  Comprehensive  Dic- 
tionary of  Equitation ;  but  as  in  this  work  I  make  a  com- 
plete exposition  of  my  method,  I  think  it  necessary  to 
repeat  it  in  a  few  words. 

I  cannot  imagine  how  people  have  been  able  so  long  to 
attribute  to  the  mere  difference  of  formation  of  the  bars,* 
those  contrary  dispositions  of  horses  which  render  them 
so  light  or  so  hard  to  the  hand.  How  can  we  believe 
that,  according  as  a  horse  has  one  or  two  lines  of  flesh, 
more  or  less,  between  the  bit  and  the  bone  of  the  lower 
jaw,  he  should  yield  to  the  lightest  impulse  of  the  hand, 
or  become  unmanageable  in  spite  of  all  the  eflforts  of  two 
vigorous  arms  ?  Nevertheless,  ii  is  from  remaining  in  this 
inconceiveable  error,  that  people  have  forged  bits  of  so 
strange  and  various  forms,  real  instruments  of  torture, 
the  effect  of  which  is  to  increase  the  difficulties  they 
sought  to  remove. 

Had  they  gone  back  a  little  further  to  the  source  of 
the  resistances,  they  would  have  discovered  that  this  one, 
like  all  the  rest,  does  not  proceed  from  the  difference  of 
formation  of  a  feeble  organ,  like  the  bars,  but  from  a 
contraction  communicated  to  the  difiTerent  parts  of  the 
body,  and,  above  all,  to  the  neck,  by  some  serious  fault 
of  constitution.  It  is,  then,  in  vain  that  we  attach  to  the 

*  The  bars  are  the  continuations  of  the  two  bones  of  the  lower  jaw 
between  the  masticating  and  the  front  teeth.    It  is  on  these  that  the  bit  rests. 


I 


FORM    OF    THE    BIT.  57 

reins,  and  place  in  the  horse's  mouth  a  more  or  less  mur- 
derous instrument;  he  will  remain  insensible  to  our 
efforts  as  long  as  we  do  not  communicate  suppleness  to 
him,  which  alone  can  enable  him  to  yield. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  I  lay  down  as  a  fact,  that  there 
is  no  difference  of  sensibility  in  the  mouths  of  horses; 
that  all  present  the  same  lightness  when  in  the  position 
called  ramener,  and  the  same  resistances  in  proportion  as 
they  recede  from  this  position.  There  are  horses  hard 
to  the  hand ;  but  this  hardness  proceeds  from  the  length 
or  weakness  of  their  loins,  from  a  harrow  croup,  from 
short  haunches,  thin  thighs,  straight  hocks,  or  (a  most 
important  point)  from  a  croup  too  high  or  too  low  in 
proportion  to  the  withers ;  such  are  the  true  causes  of 
resistances;  the  contractions  of  the  neck,  the  closing  of 
the  jaws  are  only  the  effects ;  as  to  the  bars,  they  are 
only  there  to  show  the  ignorance  of  self-styled  eques- 
trian theoricians.  By  suppling  the  neck  and  the  jaw, 
this  hardness  completely  disappears.  Experiments  a 
hundred  times  repeated  givo  me  the  right  to  advance  this 
principle  boldly  ;  perpaps  it  may,  at  first,  appear  too 
arbitrary,  but  it  is  none  the  less  true. 

Consequentl}',  I  only  allow  one  kind  of  bit,  and  this 
is  the  form  and  the  dimensions  I  give  it,  to  make  it  as 
simple  as  it  is  easy. 

The  branches  straio-ht  and  six  inches  Ions:,  measurinsc 
from  the  eye  of  the  bit  to  the  extremity  of  the  branch; 
circumference  of  the  canon,*  two  inches  and  a  half  ;  port, 
about  two  inches  wide  at  the  bottom,  and  one  inch  at  the 
top.  The  only  variation  to  be  in  the  width  of  the  bit, 
according  to  the  horse's  mouth. 


•  The  mouth-piece  of  the  bit  consists  of  three  parts :  the  port,  to  give  free- 
dom to  the  tongue,  and  the  two  canons,  which  are  the  parts  that  come  in 
contact  with  the  bars.— Translator., 


58  NE\T  METHOD    OF    HORSEMANSHIP. 

I  insist  that  such  a  bit  is  sufficient  to  render  passively 
obedient  all  horses  that  have  been  prepared  by  supplings ; 
and  I  need  not  add  that,  as  I  deny  the  utility  of  severe 
bits,  I  reject  all  means  not  coming  directly  from  the 
rider,  such  as  martingales,  piliers,  etc. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

CONTINUATION  OF  SUPPLINGS. 

The  hind-parts. — In  order  to  guide  the  horse,  the  rider 
acts  directly  on  two  of  his  parts :  the  fore-parts  and  the 
hind-parts.  To  effect  this,  he  employs  two  motive  pow- 
ers :  tiie  legs,  which  give  the  impulse  by  the  croup ;  and 
the  hand,  which  directs  and  modifies  this  impulse  by  the 
head  and  neck.  A  perfect  harmony  of  forces  ought  then 
to  exist  always  between  these  two  motive  powers ;  but 
the  same  harmony  is  equally  necessary  between  the  parts 
of  the  animal  they  are  intended  particularly  to  impress. 
In  vain  would  be  our  labor  to  render  the  head  and  neck 
flexible^  I'glit,  obedient  to  the  touch  of  the  hand ;  incom- 
plete would  be  the  results,  the  equilibrium  of  the  whole 
imperfect,  as  long  as  the  croup  remained  dull,  contracted 
and  rebellious  to  the  direct  governing  agent. 

I  have  just  explained  the  simple  and  easy  means  of 
giving  to  the  fore-parts  the  qualities  indispensable  to  a 
e:ood  management  thereof:  it  remains  to  tell  how  we 
will  fashion,  in  the  same  way,  the  hind-parts,  in  order  to 
complete  the  suppling  of  the  horse,  and  bring  about  a 
uniform  harmony  in  the  development  of  all  his  moving 
parts.  The  resistances  of  the  neck  and  croup  mutually 
aiding  one  another,  our  labor  will  be  more  easy,  as  wo 
have  already  destroyed  the  former. 


FLEXIONS    OF   THE    CROUP.  59 

Tlie  flexions  of  the  croup^  and  making  it  movable. — 

1.  The  rider  will  hold  the  curb-reins  in  the  left  hand,  and 
those  of  the  snaffle,  crossed,  in  the  right,  the  nails  of  the 
right  hand  held  downward  ;  he  will  first  bring  the  horse's 
head  into  a  perpendicular  position,  by  drawing  lightly- 
on  the  bit ;  after  that,  if  he  wishes  to  execute  the  move- 
ment to  the  right,  he  will  carry  the  left  leg  back  behind 
the  girths  and  fix  it  near  the  flanks  of  the  animal,  until 
the  croup  yields  to  this  pressure.  The  rider  will  at  the 
same  time  make  the  left  snaffle-rein  felt,  proportioning 
the  efiect  of  the  rein  to  the  resistance  which  is  opposed 
to  it.  Of  these  two  forces  transmitted  thus  by  the  left 
leg  and  the  rein  of  the  same  side,  the  first  is  intended  to 
combat  the  resistance,  and  the  second,  to  determine  the 
movement.  The  rider  should  content  himself  in  the  be- 
ginning with  making  the  croup  execute  one  or  two  steps 
only  sideways.     (Plate  XIII.) 

2.  The  croup  having  acquired  more  facility  in  moving, 
we  can  continue  the  movement  so  as  to  complete  to  the 
right  and  the  left  reversed  pirouettes.*  As  soon  as  the 
haunches  yield  to  the  pressure  of  the  leg,  the  rider,  to 
cause  the  perfect  equilibrium  of  the  horse,  will  immedi- 
ately draw  upon  the  rein  opposite  to  this  leg.  The 
motion  of  this,  slight  at  first,  will  be  progressively 
increased  until  the  head  is  inclined  to  the  side  towards 
which  the  croup  is  moving,  as  if  to  look  at  it  coming, 
(Plate  XIV.) 

To  make  this  movement  understood,  I  will  add  some 
explanations,  the  more  important  as  they  are  applicable 
to  all  the  exercises  of  horsemanship. 

The  horse,  in  all  his  movements,  cannot  preserve  a 
perfect  and  constant  equilibrium,  without  a  combination 
of  opposite  forces,  skillfully  managed  by  the  rider.  In 
*  See  note,  page  63. 


60 


NEW   METHOD    OP   HORSEMANSHIP. 


ADVANTAGES   TO   BE   PRESERVED.  61 

the  reversed  pirouette,  for  example,  if  when  the  horso 
has  yielded  to  the  pressure  of  the  leg,  we  continue  to 
oppose  the  rein  on  the  same  side  as  this  leg,  it  is  evident 
that  we  will  shoot  beyond  the  mark,  since  we  will  be 
employing  a  force  which  has  become  useless.  We  must 
then  establish  two  motive  powers,  the  effect  of  which 
balances,  without  interfering ;  this,  the  tension  of  the 
rein  on  the  opposite  side  from  the  leg  will  produce  in 
the  pirouette.  So,  we  will  commence  with  the  rein  and 
the  leg  of  the  same  side,  until  it  is  time  to  pass  to  the 
second  part  of  the  work,  then  with  the  curb-rein  in  the 
left  hand,  and  finally,  with  the  snaffle-rein  opposite  to 
the  leg.  The  forces  will  then  be  kept  in  a  diagonal  posi- 
tion, and  in  consequence,  the  equilibrium  natural,  and 
the  execution  of  the  movement  easy.  The  horse's  head 
being  turned  to  the  side  where  the  croup  is  moving,  adds 
much  to  the  gracefulness  of  the  performance,  and  aids 
the  rider  in  regulating  the  activity  of  the  haunches,  and 
keeping  the  shoulders  in  place.  For  the  rest,  tact  alone 
will  be  able  to  show  him  how  to  use  the  leg  and  the  rein, 
in  such  a  way  that  their  motions  will  mutually  sustain, 
without  at  any  time  counteracting  one  another. 

I  need  not  remind  you  that  during  the  whole  of  this 
exercise,  as  on  all  occasions,  the  neck  should  remain  sup- 
ple and  light ;  the  head  in  position  (perpendicular)  and 
the  jaw  movable.  While  the  bridle  hand  keeps  them  in 
this  proper  position,  the  right  hand,  with  the  aid  of  the 
snaffle,  is  combating  the  lateral  resistances,  and  determin- 
ing the  different  inclinations,  until  the  horse  is  sufficient- 
ly well  broken  to  obey  a  simple  pressure  of  the  bit.  If, 
when  combating  the  contraction  of  the  croup,  we  permit- 
ted the  horse  to  throw  its  stiffness  into  the  fore-parts, 
our  efforts  would  be  vain,  and  the  fruit  of  our  first  labors 
lost.     On  the  contrary,  we  will  facilitate  the  subjection 


62  NEW  METHOD    OP   HORSEMANSHIP. 

of  the  hind-parts,  by  preserving  the  advantages  we  have 
already  acquired  over  the  fore-parts,  and  by  keeping 
separated  those  contractions  we  have  yet  to  combat. 

The  leg  of  the  rider  opposite  to  that  which  determines 
the  rotation  of  the  croup,  must  not  be  kept  off  during 
the  movement,  but  remain  close  to  the  horse  and  keep 
him  in  place,  while  giving  from  the  rear  forward  an 
impulse  which  the  other  leg  communicates  from  right  to 
left,  or  from  left  to  right.  There  will  thus  be  one  force 
which  keeps  the  horse  in  position,  and  another  which 
determines  the  rotation.  In  order  that  the  pressure  of 
the  two  legs  should  not  counteract  one  another,  and 
in  ordei-  to  be  able  to  use  them  both  together,  the  leg 
intended  to  move  the  croup  will  be  placed  farther 
behind  the  girths  than  the  other,  which  will  remain  held 
with  a  force  equal  to  that  of  the  leg  that  determines  the 
movement.  Then  the  action  of  the  legs  will  be  distinct, 
the  one  bearing  from  right  to  left,  the  other  from  the 
rear  forwards.  It  is  by  the  aid  of  the  latter  that  the 
hand  places  and  fixes  the  fore  legs. 

To  accelerate  these  results,  at  first,  a  second  person 
may  be  employed  who  will  place  himself  at  the  height 
of  the  horse's  head,  holding  the  curb-reins  in  the  right 
hand,  and  on  tlie  side  opposite  to  which  we  wish  the 
croup  to  go.  He  will  lay  hold  of  the  reins  at  six  inches 
from  the  branches  of  the  bit,  so  as  to  be  in  a  good  posi- 
tion to  combat  the  instinctive  resistances  of  the  animal. 
The  one  in  the  saddle  will  content  himself  with  holdinor 

o 

lightly  the  snaffle-reins,  acting  with  his  legs  as  I  have 
already  shown.  The  second  person  is  only  useful  when 
we  have  to  deal  with  a  horse  of  an  intractable  disposi- 
tion, or  to  aid  the  inexperience  of  the  one  in  the  saddle; 
but,  as  much  should  be  done  without  assistance  as  pos- 
sible, in  order  that  the  practitioner  may  judge  by  him- 


ORDINARY   PIROUETTE,  63 

self  of  the  progress  of  his  horse,  seeking  all  the  while  for 
means  to  increase  the  effects  of  his  touch. 

Even  while  this  work  is  in  an  elementary  state,  he  will 
make  the  horse  execute  easily  all  the  figures  of  the  man- 
ege de  deux  pistes."^  After  eight  days  of  moderate  exer- 
cise, he  will  have  accomplished,  without  effort,  a  per- 
formance that  the  old  school  did  not  dare  to  undertake 
until  after  two  or  three  years'  studying  and  working  at 
the  horse. 

When  the  rider  has  accustomed  the  croup  of  the  horse 
to  yield  promptly  to  the  pressure  of  the  legs,  he  will  be 
able  to  put  it  in  motion,  or  fix  it  motionless  at  will,  and 
can,  consequently,  execute  ordinary  pirouettes,  f  For 
this  purpose  he  will  take  a  snaffle-rein  in  each  hand,  one 
to  direct  the  neck  and  shoulders  towards  the  side  to 
which  we  wish  to  wheel,  the  other  to  second  the  opposite 
leg,  if  it  is  not  sufficient  to  keep  the  croup  still.  At  the 
beginning,  this  leg  should  be  placed  as  far  back  as 
possible,  and  not  be  used  until  the  haunches  bear  against 
it.  By  careful  and  progressive  management  the  results 
will  soon  be  attained ;  at  the  start,  the  horse  should  be 
allowed  to  rest  after  executing  two  or  three  steps  well, 
which  will  give  five  or  six  halts  in  the  complete  rotation 
of  the  shoulders  around  the  croup. 


•  "  La  piste  is  an  imaginary  line  upon  wliicli  the  liorse  is  made  to  walk. 
WTien  the  Mnd  legs  follow  the  same  line  as  the  fore  ones,  the  horse  is  said  to 
go  dhine piste,  or  on  one  line.  He  goes  de  deux  pistes,  or  on  two  lines,  when 
his  hind  legs  pass  along  a  line  parallel  to  that  traced  by  ;the  fore  legs."— 
Bauc?ier''8  Dictionnaire  d' Equitation. 

t  "  The  pirouette  is  executed  on  the  fore  or  hind  legs,  by  making  the  horse 
turn  round  upon  himself,  in  such  a  way,  that  the  leg  on  the  side  he  is  going, 
acts  as  a  pivot,  and  is  the  principal  support  around  which  the  other  three 
legs  move." — Baucher''s  Dictionnaire  d' Equitation. 

Pirouettes  are  either  ordinary  or  reversed.  In  the  ordinary  pirouette,  one  of 
the  hind  legs  is  the  pivot  on  which  the  horse  moves ;  in  the  reversed,  one  of 
the  fore  legs.— Tbanslator. 


64  KEW  METHOD    OP    HORSEMAJ^SHIP. 

Here  the  stationary  exercises  cease.  I  will  now  explain 
how  the  supjjling  of  the  hind-parts  will  be  completed,  by 
commencing  to  combine  the  play  of  its  springs  with  those 
of  the  fore-parts. 

Backing, — The  retrograde  movement,  otherwise  call- 
ed backing,  is  an  exercise,  the  importance  of  which  has 
not  been  sufficiently  appreciated,  and  which  yet  ought  to 
have  a  very  great  influence  upon  his  education.  When 
practised  after  the  old  erroneous  methods,  it  would  have 
been  without  success,  since  the  thread  of  exercises  that 
ought  to  precede  it  were  unknown.  Backing  properly  differs 
essentially  from  that  incorrect  backward  movement  which 
carries  the  horse  to  the  rear  with  his  croup  contracted 
and  his- neck  stiff;  that  is,  backing  away  from  and 
avoiding  the  effect  of  the  reins.  Backing  correctly  sup- 
ples the  horse,  and  adds  grace  and  precision  to  his  natural 
motions.  The  first  of  the  conditions  upon  which  it  is  to 
be  obtained,  is  to  keep  the  horse  in  hand ;  that  is  to  say, 
supple,  light  in  the  mouth,  steady  on  his  legs,  and  per- 
fectly balanced  in  all  his  parts.  Thus  disposed,  the 
animal  will  be  able  with  ease  to  move  and  elevate  equally 
his  fore  and  hind  legs. 

It  is  here  that  we  will  be  enabled  to  appreciate  the 
good  effects  and  the  indispensable  necessity  of  suppling 
the  neck  and  haunches.  Backing,  which  at  first  is  toler- 
ably painful  to  the  horse,  will  always  lead  him  to  com- 
bat the  motions  of  our  hand,  by  stiffening  his  neck,  and 
those  of  our  legs,  by  contracting  his  croup  ;  these  are  the 
instinctive  resistances.  If  we  cannot  obviate  the  bad 
disposition  of  them,  how  will  we  be  able  to  obtain  that 
shifting  and  re-shifting  of  weight,  which  alone  ought  to 
make  the  execution  of  this  movement  perfect?  If  the 
impulsion  which,  to  back  him,  ought  to  come  from  the 
fore-parts,  should  pass  over  its  proper  limits,  the  move- 


BACKING.  65 

ment  would  become  painful,  impossible  in  fact,  and  oc- 
casion, on  the  part  of  the  animal,  sudden,  violent  move- 
ments which  are  always  injurious  to  his  organization. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  displacements*  of  the  croup, 
by  destroying  the  harmony  which  should  exist  between 
the  relative  forces  of  fore  and  hind-parts,  would  also 
hinder  the  proper  execution  of  the  backing.  The  pre- 
vious exercise  to  which  we  have  subjected  the  croup  will 
aid  us  in  keeping  it  in  a  straight  line  with  the  shoulders, 
in  order  to  preserve  the  necessary  transferring  of  the 
forces  and  weight. 

To  commence  the  movement,  the  rider  ought  first  to 
assure  himself  that  tlie  haunches  are  on  a  line  with  the 
shoulders,  and  the  horse  light  in  hand ;  then  he  will 
slowly  close  his  legs,  in  order  that  the  action  they  will 
communicate  to  the  hind-parts  of  the  horse  may  make 
him  lift  one  of  his  hind  legs,  and  prevent  the  body  from 
yielding  before  the  neck.  It  is  then  that  the  immediate 
pressure  of  the  bit,  forcing  the  horse  to  regain  his  equi- 
librium behind,  will  produce  the  first  part  of  the  back- 
ing. As  soon  as  the  horse  obeys,  the  rider  will  instantly 
give  the  hand  to  reward  the  animal,  and  not  to  force  the 
play  of  his  fore-parts.  If  his  croup  is  displaced,  the 
rider  will  bring  it  back  by  means  of  his  leg,  and  if  neces- 
sary, use  for  this  purpose  the  snaffle-rein  on  that  side. 

After  having  defined  what  I  call  the  proper  backing 
{reculer)y  I  ought  to  explain  what  I  understand  by  back- 
ing so  as  to  avoid  the  bit  (V acculement).  This  move- 
ment is  too  painful  to  the  horse,  too  ungraceful,  and  too 
much  opposed  to  the  right  development  of  his  mechan- 
ism, not  to  have  struck  any  one  wlio  has  occupied  him- 
self at  all  with  horsemanship.     We  force  a  horse  back- 

*  These  displacements  of  the  croup  mean  sideway  displacements,  or  the 
horse's  croup  not  being  in  a  line  with  the  shoulders.— Translatob. 


66  NEW  METHOD    OP   HORSEMANSHIP. 

wards  in  this  way,  whenever  we  crowd  too  much  his 
forces  and  weight  upon  his  hind-parts ;  by  so  doing  we 
destroy  his  equilibrium,  and  render  grace,  measure  and 
correctness  impossible.  Lightness,  always  lightness  ! 
this  is  the  basis,  the  touchstone  of  all  beautiful  execu- 
tion. With  this,  all  is  easy,  as  much  for  the  horse  as  the 
rider.  That  being  the  case,  it  is  understood  that  the 
difficulty  of  horsemanship  does  not  consist  in  the  direc- 
tion to  give  the  horse,  but  in  the  position  to  make  him 
assume — a  position  which  alone  can  smooth  all  obstacles. 
Indeed,  if  the  horse  executes,  it  is  the  rider  who  makes 
him  do  so;  upon  him  then  rests  the  responsibility  of 
every  false  movement. 

It  will  suffice  to  exercise  the  horse  for  eight  days  (for  five 
minutes  each  lesson),  in  backing,  to  make  him  execute  it 
with  facility.  The  rider  will  content  himself  the  first  few 
times  with  one  or  two  steps  to  the  rear,  followed  by  the 
combined  effect  of  the  legs  and  hand,  increasing  in  pro- 
portion to  the  progress  he  makes,  until  he  finds  no  more 
difficulty  in  a  backward  than  in  a  forward  movement. 

What  an  immense  step  we  will  then  have  made  in  the 
education  of  our  pupil!  At  the  start,  the  defective 
formation  of  the  animal,  his  natural  contractions,  the 
resistances  we  encountered  everywhere,  seemed  as  if  they 
might  defy  our  efforts  forever.  Without  doubt  they 
would  have  been  vain,  had  we  made  use  of  a  bad  course 
of  proceeding,  but  the  wise  system  of  progression  that 
we  have  introduced  into  our  work,  the  destruction  of  the 
instinctive  forces  of  the  horse,  the  suppling,  the  sepa- 
rate subjection  of  all  the  rebellious  parts,  have  soon 
placed  in  our  power  the  whole  of  the  mechanism  to 
Buch  a  degree  as  to  enable  us  to  govern  it  completely, 
and  to  restore  that  pliability,  ease,  and  harmony  of  the 
parts,  which  their  bad  arrangement  appeared  as  if  it 


SUBJECTION    OF    INSTINCTIVE    FORCES.  67 

would  always  prevent.  As  I  shall  point  out  hereafter  in 
classing  the  general  division  of  the  labor,  it  will  be  seen 
that  eight  or  ten  days  will  be  sufficient  to  obtain  these 
important  results. 

Was  I  not  right  then  in  saying  that  if  it  is  not  in  my 
power  to  change  the  defective  formation  of  a  horse,  I 
can  yet  prevent  the  evil  effect  of  his  physical  defects,  so 
as  to  render  him  as  fit  to  do  everything  with  grace  and 
natural  ease,  as  the  better  formed  horse  ?  In  suppling 
the  parts  of  the  animal  upon  which  the  rider  acts 
directly,  in  order  to  govern  and  guide  him,  in  accustom- 
ing them  to  yield  without  difficulty  or  hesitation  to  the 
different  impressions  which  are  communicated  to  them,  I 
have,  by  so  doing,  destroyed  their  stiffness  and  restored 
the  centre  of  gravity  to  its  true  place,  namely,  to  the 
middle  of  the  body.  I  have,  besides,  settled  the  greatest 
difficulty  of  horsemanship  :  that  of  subjecting,  before 
everything  else,  the  parts  upon  which  the  rider  acts 
directly,  in  order  to  prepare  for  him  infallible  means  of 
acting  upon  the  horse. 

It  is  only  by  destroying  the  instinctive  forces,  and  by 
suppling  the  different  parts  of  the  horse,  that  we  will 
obtain  this.  All  the  springs  of  the  animal's  body  are 
thus  yielded  up  to  the  discretion  of  the  rider.  But  this 
first  advantage  will  not  be  enough  to  make  him  a  com- 
plete horseman.  The  employment  of  these  forces  thus 
abandoned  to  him,  demand,  in  order  to  execute  the  dif- 
ferent paces,  much  study  and  skill.  I  will  show  in  the 
subsequent  chapters  the  rules  to  be  observed.  I  will 
conclude  this  one  by  a  rapid  recapitulation  of  the  pro- 
gression to  be  followed  in  the  supplings. 

Statio7iary  exercise^  the  rider  on  foot.  Fore-parts. — 
1.-  Flexions  of  the  jaw  to  the  right  and  left,  using  the 
curb-bit. 


68  KEW  METHOD    OF   HOKSEMAXSHIP, 

2.  Direct  flexions  of  the  jaw,  and  depression  of  the 
neck. 

3.  Lateral  flexions  of  the  neck  with  the  snaffle-reins 
and  with  the  curb. 

Stationary  exercise,  the  rider  on  horse-hach. — 1.  Later- 
al flexions  of  the  neck  with  the  snaffle-reins,  and  with  the 
curb-reins. 

2.  Direct  flexions  of  the  head  or  placing  it  in  a  per- 
pendicular position  with  the  snaffle,  and  with  the  curb- 
reins. 

Hind-parts. — 3.  Lateral  flexions,  and  moving  the  croup 
around  the  shoulders, 

4.  Rotation  of  the  shoulders  around  the  haunches. 

5.  Combining  the  play  of  the  fore  and  hind  legs  of  the 
horse,  or  backing. 

I  have  placed  the  rotation  of  the  shoulders  around  the 
haunches  in  the  nomenclatere  of  stationary  exercise. 
But  the  ordinary  pivoting,  or  pirouettes,  being  a  pretty 
complicated  movement,  and  one  difficult  for  the  horse, 
he  should  not  be  completely  exercised  in  it  until  he  has 
acquired  the  measured  time  of  the  walk,  and  of  the  trot, 
and  will  easily  execute  the  changes  of  direction. 


CHAPTER  V. 

OF  THE  EMPLOYMENT  OF  THE  FORCES  OF  THE   HORSE  BY   THE 
RIDER. 

"When  tlie  snpplings  have  subjected  the  instinctive 
forces  of  the  horse,  and  given  them  up  completely  into 
our  power,  the  animal  will  be  nothing  more  in  our  hand 
than  a  passive,  expectant  machine,  ready  to  act  upon  the 
impulsion  we  choose  to  communicate  to  him.  It  will  be 
for  us,  then,  as  sovereign  disposers  of  all  his  forces,  to 
combine  the  employment  of  them  in  correct  proportion 
to  the  movements  we  wish  to  execute. 

The  young  horse,  at  first  stiff  and  awkward  in  the  use 
of  his  members,  will  need  a  certain  degree  of  management 
in  developing  them.  In  this,  as  in  every  other  case,  we 
will  follow  that  rational  progression  which  tells  us  to 
commence  with  the  simple,  before  passing  to  the  com- 
plicated. By  the  preceding  exercise,  we  have  made  our 
means  of  acting  upon  the  horse  sure.  We  must  now 
attend  to  facilitating  his  means  of  execution,  by  exercis- 
ing all  his  forces  together.  If  the  animal  responds  to 
the  aids  of  the  rider  by  the  jaw,  the  neck  and  the 
haunches ;  if  he  yields  by  the  general  disposition  of  his 
body  to  the  impulses  communicated  to  him,  it  is  by  the  play 
of  his  extremities  that  he  executes  the  movement.  The 
mechanism  of  these  parts  ought  then  to  be  easy,  prompt 
and  regular ;  their  application,  well  directed  in  the  dif- 


70  NEW  METHOD    OF    HORSEMANSHIP. 

ferent  paces,  will  alone  be  able  to  give  them  these  quali- 
ties, indispensable  to  a  good  education.* 

The  walk. — This  pace  is  the  mother  of  all  the  other 
paces ;  by  it  we  will  obtain  the  cadence,  the  regularity, 
the  extension  of  the  others.  But  to  obtain  these  brilliant 
results,  the  rider  must  display  as  much  knowledge  as  tact. 
The  preceding  exercises  have  led  the  horse  to  bear  the 
combined  effect  of  hand  and  legs,  which  could  not  have 
been  done  previously  to  the  destruction  of  the  instinctive 
resistances ;  we  have  now  only  to  act  on  the  inert  resist- 
ances which  appertain  to  the  animal's  weight ;  upon  the 
forces  which  only  move  when  an  impulse  is  communi- 
cated to  them. 

Before  making  the  horse  go  forward,  we  should  first 
assure  ourselves  of  his  lightness ;  that  is  to  say,  of  his 
head  being  perpendicular,  his  neck  flexible,  his  hind-part 
straight  and  plumb.  The  legs  will  then  be  closed  lightly, 
to  give  the  body  the  impulse  necessary  to  move  it.  But 
we  should  not,  in  accordance  with  the  precepts  of  the  old 
method,  give  the  bridle  hand  at  the  same  time  ;  for  then 
the  neck,  being  free  from  all  restraint,  would  lose  its 
lightness ;  would  contract,  and  render  the  motion  of  the 
hand  powerless.  The  rider  will  remember  that  his  hand 
ought  to  be  to  the  horse  an  insurmountable  barrier, 
whenever  he  would  leave  the  position  of  ramener.  The 
animal  will  never  attempt  it,  without  pain ;  and  only 
within  this  limit  will  he  find  ease  and  comfort.  By  the 
application  of  my  method,  the  rider  will  be  led  to  guide 
his  horse  all  the  time  with   the  reins  half  tight,  except 

*  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  hand  and  legs  have  their  vocabulary 
also;  and  a  very  concise  one.  This  mute,  laconic  language  consists  of  these 
few  words.  You  are  doing  badly ;  this  is  what  you  should  do;  you  do  icell  now. 
It  is  sufficient  for  the  rider  to  be  able  to  translate,  by  his  mechanism,  the 
meaning  of  these  three  remarks,  to  possess  all  the  equestriaa  erudition,  and 
share  his  intelligence  with  his  horse. 


I 


HARMONY    OF    FORCES.  71 

when  he  wishes  to  correct  a  false  movement,  or  deter- 
mine a  new  one. 

The  walk,  I  have  said,  ought  to  precede  the  other 
paces,  because  the  horse  having  three  supports  upon  the 
ground,  his  action  is  less,  and  consequently  easier  to 
regulate  than  in  the  trQt  and  gallop.  The  first  exercises 
of  the  supplings  will  be  followed  by  some  turns  in  the 
riding-house  at  a  walk,  but  only  as  a  relaxation,  the  rider 
attending  less  to  animating  his  horse  than  to  making 
him  keep  his  head,  while  walking  in  a  perpendicular 
position.  Little  by  little  he  will  complicate  his  work,  so 
as  to  join  to  the  lightness  of  the  horse  that  precision  of 
movement  indispensable  to  the  beauty  of  all  his  paces. 

He  will  commence  light  oppositions  of  the  hand  and 
legs  to  make  the  forces  of  the  fore  and  hind-parts  work 
together  in  harmony.  This  exercise,  by  accustoming  the 
horse  always  to  yield  the  use  of  his  forces  to  the  direc- 
tion of  the  rider,  will  be  also  useful  in  forming  his 
intelligence,  as  well  as  in  developing  his  powers.  What 
delights  the  expert  horseman  will  experience  in  the  pro- 
gressive application  of  his  art !  His  pupil  at  first  rebel- 
lious will  insensibly  yield  himself  to  his  every  wish  ;  will 
adopt  his  character,  and  end  by  becoming  the  living  per- 
sonification of  him.  Take  care,  then,  rider !  If  your 
horse  is  capricious,  violent,  fantastic,  we  will  have  the 
right  to  say  that  you  yourself  do  not  shine  by  the  amen- 
ity of  your  disposition,  and  the  propriety  of  your  pro- 
ceedings. 

In  order  to  keep  the  measure  and  quickness  of  the 
walk  equal  and  regular,  it  is  indispensable  that  the  im- 
pulsive and  governing  forces  which  come  from  the  rider, 
should  themselves  be  perfectly  in  harmony.  We  will 
suppose,  for  example,  that  the  rider  to  move  his  horse 
forward,  should  make  use  of  a   force   equal  to  twenty 


72  NEW  METHOD    OF   HORSEMANSHIP. 

pounds,  fifteen  for  the  impulse  forward,  and  five  to  bring 
his  head  into  position.  If  the  legs  increase  their  motion 
without  the  hands  increasing  theirs  in  the  same  propor- 
tion, it  is  evident  that  the  surplus  of  communicated  force 
will  be  thrown  into  the  neck,  cause  it  to  contract,  and 
destroy  all  lightness.  If,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  the  hand 
which  acts  with  too  much  violence,  it  will  be  at  the 
expense  of  the  impulsive  force  necessary  to  move  the  horse 
forward ;  on  this  account,  his  forward  movement  will  be 
slackened  and  counteracted,  at  the  same  time  that  his 
position  will  lose  its  gracefulness  and  power. 

This  short  explanation  will  suffice  to  show  the  harmony 
that  should  exist  between  the  legs  and  hands.  It  is 
understood  that  their  motion  should  vary  according  as  the 
formation  of  the  horse  renders  it  necessary  to  support 
him  more  or  less  before  or  behind ;  but  the  rule  is  the 
same,  only  the  proportions  are  different. 

As  long  as  the  horse  will  not  keep  himself  supple  and 
light  in  his  walk,  we  will  continue  to  exercise  him  in  a 
straight  line;  but  as  soon  as  he  acquires  more  ease  and 
steadiness,  we  will  commence  to  make  him  execute 
changes  of  direction  to  the  right  and  left,  while  walking. 
Changes  of  direction,— T\\q  use  of  the  wrists,  in  the 
changes  of  direction,  is  so  simple  that  it  is  unnecessary 
to  speak  of  it  here.  I  will  only  call  attention  to  the  fact, 
that  the  resistances  of  the  horse  ought  always  to  be 
anticipated  by  disposing  his  forces  in  such  a  manner  that 
they  all  concur  in  putting  him  in  the  way  of  moving. 
The  head  will  be  inclined  in  the  direction  we  wish  lo  go 
by  means  of  the  snaffle-rein  of  that  side,  the  curb  will 
then  complete  the  movement.  General  rule :  the  lateral 
resistance's  of  the  neck  are  always  to  be  opposed  by  the 
aid  of  the  snaffle,  being  very  careful  not  to  commence  to 
wheel  until  after  destroying  the  obstacle  that  opposed  it. 


CHANGES    OF   DIRECTION.  73 

If  the  use  of  the  wrists  remains  very  nearly  the  same  as 
formerly,  it  is  not  so  with  the  legs ;  their  motion  will  be 
diametrically  opposite  to  that  given  them  in  the  old  style 
of  horsemanship.  This  innovation  is  so  natural  a  one,  that 
I  cannot  conceive  why  some  one  never  applied  it  before 
me. 

It  is  by  bearing  the  hand  to  the  right,  and  making  the 
right  leg  felt,  people  have  told  me,  and  I  have  myself  at 
first  repeated  it,  that  the  horse  is  made  to  turn  to  the 
right.  With  me,  practice  has  always  taken  the  prece- 
dence of  reasoning ;  and  this  is  the  way  I  first  perceived 
the  incorrectness  of  this  principle. 

Whatever  lightness  my  horse  had  in  a  straight  line,  I 
remarked  that  this  lightness  always  lost  some  of  its  deli- 
cacy when  moving  in  small  circles,  although  my  outside 
leg  came  to  the  assistance  of  the  inside  one.  As  soon  as 
the  hind  leg  put  itself  in  motion  to  follow  the  shoulders 
in  the  circle,  I  immediately  felt  a  slight  resistance.  I 
then  thought  of  changing  the  use  of  my  aids,  and  of 
pressing  the  leg  on  the  side  opposite  to  the  direction  of 
wheeling.  At  the  same  time,  in  place  of  bearing  the 
hand  immediately  to  the  right,  to  determine  the  shoul- 
ders in  that  direction,  I  first,  by  the  aid  of  this  hand, 
made  the  opposition  necessary  to  render  the  haunches 
motionless,  and  to  dispose  the  forces  in  such  a  way  as  to 
maintain  the  equilibrium  during  the  execution  of  the 
movement.  This  proceeding  was  completely  successful; 
and  in  explaining  what  ought  to  be  the  function  of  the 
diiferent  extremities,  I  recognize  this  as  the  only  rational 
way  of  using  them  in  wheeling. 

In  fact,  in  wheeling  to  the  right,  for  example,  it  is  the 
right  hind  leg  which  serves  as  pivot  and  supports  the 
whole  weight  of  the  mass,  while  the  left  hind  leg  and 
the  fore  legs  describe  a  circle  more  or  less  extended.    In 


74  NEW  METHOD  OF  HORSEMANSHIP. 

order  that  the  movement  should  be  correct  and  free,  it  is 
necessary  that  this  pivot  upon  which  the  whole  turns  be 
not  interfered  with  in  its  action ;  the  simultaneous  action 
of  the  right  hand  and  the  right  leg  must  necessarily  pro- 
duce this  effect.  The  equilibrium  is  thus  destroyed,  and 
the  regularity  of  the  wheeling  rendered  impossible. 

As  soon  as  the  horse  executes  easily  the  changes  of 
direction  at  a  walk,  and  keeps  himself  perfectly  light, 
we  can  commence  exercising  at  a  trot. 

The  ^ro^.— The  rider  will  commence  this  pace  at  a  very 
moderate  rate  of  speed,  following  exactly  the  same  prin- 
ciples as  for  the  walk.  He  will  keep  his  horse  perfectly 
light,  not  forgetting  that  the  faster  the  pace,  the  more 
disposition  there  w-ill  be  on  the  part  of  the  animal  to  fall 
back  again  into  his  natural  contractions.  The  hand 
should  then  be  used  with  redoubled  nicety,  in  order  to 
keep  the  head  and  neck  always  pliable,  without  affecting 
the  impulse  necessary  to  the  movement.  The  legs  will 
lightly  second  the  hands,  and  the  horse  between  these 
two  barriers,  which  are  obstacles  only  to  his  improper 
movements,  will  soon  develop  all  his  best  faculties,  and 
with  precision  of  movement,  will  acquire  grace,  exten- 
sion, and  the  steadiness  inherent  to  the  lightness  of  the 

whole.  • 

Although  many  persons  w^ho  would  not  take  the 
trouble  to  examine  thoroughly  my  method,  have  pre- 
tended that  it  is  opposed  to  great  speed  in  trotting,  it  is 
not  the  less  proved  that  the  well-balanced  horse  can  trot 
faster  than  the  one  destitute  of  this  advantage.  I  have 
given  proofs  of  this  whenever  they  have  been  demanded 
of  me  ;  but  it  is  in  vain  that  I  have  tried  to  make  people 
understand  what  constitutes  the  motions  of  the  trot,  and 
what  are  the  conditions  indispensable  for  regularity  in 
executing  it.     So,  I  was  obliged  in  a  race  of  which  I  was 


BEMEDY   FOR   FAULTY    CONSTRUCTION.  75 

judge,  to  make  the  bets  void,  and  to  prove  that  the  pre- 
tended trotters  were  not  trotting  really,  but  were  amb- 
ling. 

The  condition  indispensable  to  a  good  trotter,  is  per- 
feet  equilibrium  of  the  body.  Equilibrium  which  keeps 
up  a  regular  movement  of  the  diagonal  fore  and  hind 
feet,  gives  them  an  equal  elevation  and  extension,  with 
such  lightness  that  the  animal  can  easily  execute  all 
changes  of  direction,  moderate  his  speed,  halt,  or  increase 
his  speed  without  effort.  The  fore-parts  have  not,  then, 
the  appearance  of  towing  after  them  the  hind-parts, 
which  keep  as  far  off  as  possible;  everything  becomes 
easy  and  graceful  for  the  horse,  because  his  forces  being 
in  perfect  harmony,  permit  the  rider  to  dispose  of  them 
in  such  a  way  that  they  mutually  and  constantly  assist 
each  other. 

It  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  count  up  the  number 
of  horses  that  have  been  sent  me  to  break,  and  whose 
paces  have  been  so  spoiled  that  it  was  impossible  for  them 
to  trot  a  single  step.  A  few  lesson^  have  always  been 
sufficient  for  me  to  get  them  back  into  regular  paces,  and 
these  are  the  means  I  employed. 

The  difficulty  which  the  horse  experiences  in  keeping 
himself  square  in  his  trot,  almost  always  proceeds  from 
the  hind-parts.  Whether  these  be  of  a  feeble  construe 
tion,  or  be  rendered  useless  by  the  superior  vigor  of  the 
fore-parts,  the  motions  of  these  parts,  which  receive  the 
shock  and  give  the  bound,  in  each  case  become  power- 
less, and  in  consequence,  render  the  movement  irregular.* 

»  I  am  not  of  the  opinioa  of  those  connoisseurs  who  imagine  that  the  quali- 
ties of  the  horse,  as  well  as  his  speea  in  trotting,  depend  principally  on  the 
height  of  his  withers.  I  think,  that  for  the  horse  to  be  stylish  and  regular 
in  his  movements,  the  croup  should  be  on  a  level  with  the  withers  ;  such  was 
the  construction  of  the  old  English  horses.  A  certain  kind  of  horses,  very 
much  d  la  mode,  called  steppers,  are  coustructed  after  an  entirely  different 


76  NEW  METHOD  OF  HORSEMANSHIP. 

There  is,  then,  weakness  in  one  extremity,  or  excess  of 
force  in  the  other.  The  remedy  in  each  case  will  be  the 
same,  viz :  the  depression  of  the  neck,  which  by  dimin- 
ishing the  power  of  the  fore-parts,  restores  the  equili- 
brium between  the  two  parts.  We  have  practised  this 
suppling  on  foot,  it  will  be  easy  to  obtain  it  on  horse- 
back. We  here  see  the  usefulness  of  this  perpendicular 
flexion,  which  allows  us  to  place  on  a  level  the  forces  of 
the  two  opposite  extremities  of  the  horse,  in  order  to 
make  them  harmonious,  and  induce  regularity  in  their 
working.  The  horse  being  thus  placed,  can  bend  and 
extend  his  fore  and  hind  legs,  before  the  weight  of  the 
body  forces  them  to  resume  their  support. 

The  practice  of  this  and  some  other  principles  that 
I  explain  in  this  work,  will  place  in  the  rank  of  choice 
horses,  animals  whose  inferiority  caused  them  to  be  con- 
sidered jades,  and  that  the  old  method  would  never 
have  raised  from  their  degradation.  It  will  suffice  to 
accustom  the  horse  to  trot  well,  to  exercise  him  at  this 
pace  only  five  minutes  in  each  lesson.  When  he  acquires 
the  necessary  ease  and  lightness,  he  can  be  made  to  execute 
ordinary  pirouettes^  as  well  as  the  exercise  on  two  lines,  at 
a  walk  and  a  trot.  I  have  said  that  five  minutes  of  trotting 

fashion ;  they  strike  out  with  their  fore  legs,  and  drag  their  hind-parts  after 
them.  Horses  with  a  low  croup,  or  withers  very  high  in  proportion  to  their 
croup,  were  preferred  by  horsemen  of  the  old  school,  and  are  still  in  favor 
now-a-days  among  amateur  horsemen.  The  German  horsemen  have  an 
equally  marked  predilection  for  this  sort  of  formation,  although  it  is  contrary 
to  strength  of  the  croup,  to  the  equilibi'ium  of  the  horse,  and  to  the  regular 
play  of  his  feet  and  legs.  This  fault  of  construction  (for  it  is  one)  has  been 
scarcely  noticed  till  now ;  nevertheless,  it  is  a  great  one,  and  really  retards 
the  horse's  education.  In  fact,  we  are  obliged,  in  order  to  render  his  move- 
ments uniform,  to  iower  his  neck,  so  that  the  kind  of  lever  it  represents,  may 
serve  to  lighten  his  hind-parts  of  the  weight  with  which  they  are  overbur- 
dened. I  ought  also  to  say,  that  this  change  of  position,  or  of  equilibrium,  i3 
only  obtained  by  the  aid  of  my  principles.  I  explain  the  cause  and  effect, 
and  I  point  out  the  remedies.  Is  this  not  the  proper  way  for  an  author  to 
proceed? 


PROLONGED    EXERCISE    HURTFUL.  Y7 

were  enough  at  first,  because  it  is  less  the  continuance  of 
an  exercise  than  its  being  properly  done  that  perfects 
the  execution  of  it.     Besides,  as  this  pace  requires  a  con- 
siderable displacement  of  forces,  and   as  the  animal  will 
have  been  already  subjected  to  a  rather  painful  exercise, 
it  would  be  dangerous  to   prolong  it  beyond   the  time  I 
mention.     The  horse  will  lend  himself  more  willingly  to 
your  efforts  when  nicely  managed,  and  of  short  duration ; 
his  intelligence,  becoming  familiar  with  this  efficient  pro- 
gression, will  hasten   success.     He  will   submit  himself 
calmly  and  without  repugnance  to  work  in  which  there 
will  be  nothing  painful  to  him,  and  we  will  be  able  thus 
to  push  his  education  to  the  farthest  limits,  not  only 
without  injury  to  his  physical  organization,  but  in  restor- 
ing to  their   normal    state  organs  that  a  forced  exercise 
might  have  weakened.     This  regular  development  of  all 
the  organs  of  tfie  horse  will  not   only  give    him  grace, 
but  also  strength  and  health,  and  will  thus  prolong  his 
existence,  whde  increasing  a  hundredfold  the  delights  of 
the  true  horseman. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

OP  THE  CONCENTRATION  OP  THE  FORCES  OF  THE  HORSE  BV 
THE  RIDER. 

The  rider  now  understands  that  the  only  means  of 
obtaining  precision  and  regularity  of  movement  in  the 
walk  and  trot  is  to  keep  the  horse  perfectly  light  while 
he  is  exercised  at  these  paces.  As  soon  as  we  are  sure 
of  this  lightness  while  going  in  a  straight  line,  in  changes 
of  direction,  and  in  circular  movements  it  will  be  easy 
to  preserve  it  while  exercising  on  two  lines.* 

I  would  here  treat  immediately  of  the  gallop;  but 
this  pace,  more  complicated  than  the  two  others,  demands 
an  arrangement  on  the  part  of  the  horse,  and  a  power 
on  the  part  of  the  rider,  that  the  preceding  exercises  have 
not  yet  been  able  to  give.  The  proper  placing  of  the 
horse's  head  spreads  his  forces  over  the  whole  of  his 
body ;  it  is  necessary,  in  order  to  perform  correctly  the 
different  exercises  at  a  gallop,  and  to  enable  yourself 
properly  to  direct  the  forces  in  energetic  movements,  to 
bring  them  into  a  common  focus— that  is,  to  the  centre 
of  gravity  of  the  animal.  I  am  about  to  explain  how 
this  is  to  be  done. 

The  use  of  the  spurs. — Professors  of  equitation  and 
authors  upon  this  subject  have  said  that  the  spurs  are  to 
punish  the  horse  when  he  does  not  respond  to  the  legs, 
or  when  he  refuses  to  approach  an  object  that  frightens 
him.     With  them,  the  spur  is  not  an  aid,  but  a  means  of 

•  Previously  explained. 


USE   OF   THE   SPUES.  19 

chastisement.  With  me  it  is,  on  the  contrary,  a  power- 
ful auxiliary,  without  which  it  would  be  impossible  to 
break  any  horse  perfectly.  How  !  you  exclaim,  you 
attack  with  the  spur,  horses  that  are  sensitive,  excit- 
able, full  of  fire  and  action  -  horses  whose  powerful  make 
leads  them  to  become  unmanageable,  in  spite  of  the 
hardest  bits  and  the  most  vigorous  anns  !  Yes,  and  it  is 
with  the  spur  that  I  will  moderate  the  fury  of  these  too 
fiery  animals,  and  stop  them  short  in  their  most  impetu- 
ous bounds.  It  is  with  the  spur,  aided  of  course  by  the 
hand,  that  I  will  make  the  most  stubborn  natures  kind, 
and  perfectly  educate  the  most  intractable  animal. 

Long  before  publishing  my  **  Comprehensive  Diction- 
ary of  Equitation,''''  I  was  aware  of  the  excellent  effects 
of  the  spur ;  but  I  abstained  from  developing  my  prin- 
ciples, being  prevented  by  an  expression  of  one  of  my 
friends,  whom  I  had  shown  how  to  obtain  results,  which 
to  him  appeared  miraculous.  "  It  is  extraordinary  !  It 
is  wonderful !"  he  exclaimed  ;  "  but  it  is  a  razor  in  the 
hands  of  a  monkey."  It  is  true  that  the  use  of  the 
spurs  requires  prudence,  tact,  and  gradation  ;  but  the 
effects  of  it  are  precious.  Now  that  I  have  proved  the 
efficacy  of  my  method ;  now  that  I  see  my  most  violent 
adversaries  become  warm  partisans  of  my  principles,  I 
no  longer  fear  to  develop  a  process  that  I  consider  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  results  of  my  long  researches  in 
horsemanship. 

There  is  no  more  difference  in  sensibility  of  different 
horses'  flanks  than  in  their  sensibility  of  mouth — that  is 
to  say,  that  the  direct  effect  of  the  spur  is  nearly  the 
same  in  them  all.  I  have  already  shown  that  the  organ- 
ization of  the  bars  of  the  mouth  goes  for  nothing  in 
the  resistances  to  the  hand.  It  is  clear  enough  that 
if  the  nose  being  thrown  up  in  the  air  gives  the  horse  a 


80  NEW  METHOD  OP  HOKSEMANSHIP. 

force  of  resistance  equal  to  two  hundred  pounds,  this 
force  will  be  reduced  to  one  hundred  pounds,  when  we 
bring  the  horse's  head  half-way  towards  a  perpendicular 
position  ;  to  fifty  pounds  when  brought  still  nearer  that 
position,  and  to  nothing  when  perfectly  placed.  The  pre- 
tended hardness  of  mouth  proceeds  in  this  case  from  the 
bad  position  of  the  head  caused  by  the  stiffness  of  the  neck 
and  the  faulty  construction  of  the  loins  and  haunches  of  the 
horse.  If  we  carefully  examine  the  causes  that  produce 
what  is  called  sensibility  of  the  flanks,  we  will  discover 
that  they  have  very  much  the  same  kind  of  source. 

The  innumerable  conjectures  to  which  people  have 
devoted  themselves,  in  attributing  to  the  horse's  flanks  a 
local  sensibility  that  had  no  existence,  have  necessarily 
injured  the  progress  of  his  education,  because  it  was 
based  upon  false  data.  The  greater  or  less  sensibility 
of  the  animal  proceeds  from  his  action,  from  his  faulty 
formation,  and  bad  position  resulting  therefrom.  To  a 
horse  of  natural  action,  but  with  long  weak  loins,  and 
bad  action  behind,  every  motion  backward  is  painful, 
and  the  very  disposition  that  leads  him  to  rush  ahead, 
serves  him  to  avoid  the  pain  of  the  spur.  He  returns  to 
this  movement  whenever  he  feels  the  rider's  legs  touch 
him ;  and  far  from  being  a  spirited  horse,  he  is  only 
scared  and  crazy.  The  more  he  feels  the  spur,  the  more 
he  plunges  out  of  hand,  and  baffles  the  means  intended 
to  make  him  obedient.  There  is  everything  to  fear  from 
such  a  horse  ;  he  will  scare  at  objects  from  the  very  ease 
he  possesses  of  avoiding  them.  Now  since  his  fright  pro- 
ceeds, so  to  say,  from  the  bad  position  we  allow  him  to 
take,  this  inconvenience  will  disappear  from  the  moment 
we  remedy  the  first  cause  of  it.  We  must  confine  the 
forces  in  order  to  prevent  every  displacement.  We  must 
separate  the  physical  from  the   moral  horse,  and  force 


USE    OF   THE    SPUES.  81 

these  impressions  to  concentrate  in  the  brain.  He  will 
then  be  a  furious  madman  whose  limbs  we  have  bound 
to  prevent  him  from  carrying  his  frenzied  thoughts  into 
execution. 

The  best  proof  we  liave  that  the  promptness  of  a  horse 
in  responding  to  the  effect  of  the  legs  and  spurs,  is  not 
caused  by  a  sensibility  of  tlie  flanks,  but  rather  by  great 
action  joined  to  bad  formation,  is  that  the  same  action 
is  not  so  manifest  in  a  well-formed  horse,  and  that  the 
latter  bears  the  spur  much  better  than  one  w4iose  equili- 
brium and  organization  are  inferior. 

But  the  spur  is  not  useful  only  in  moderating  the  too 
great  energy  of  horses  of  much  acfion ;  its  effect  being 
equally  good  in  combating  the  dispositions  which  lead  the 
animal  to  throw  its  centre  of  gravity  too  much  forward, 
or  back.  I  would  also  use  it  to  stir  up  those  that  are 
wanting  in  ardor  and  vivacity.  In  horses  of  action,  the 
forces  of  the  hind-parts  surpass  those  of  the  fore-parts. 
It  is  the  opposite  in  dull  horses.  We  can  thus  account  for 
the  quickness  of  the  former;  the  slowness  and  sluggish- 
ness of  the  latter. 

By  the  exercise  of  suppling,  we  have  completely 
annulled  the  instinctive  forces  of  the  horse.  We  must 
now  reunite  these  forces  in  their  true  centre  of  gravity, 
that  is,  the  middle  of  the  animal's  body  ^  it  is  by  the 
properly  combined  opposition  of  the  legs  and  hands  that 
we  will  succeed  in  this.  The  advantages  we  possess 
already  over  the  horse,  will  enable  us  to  combat  from 
their  very  birth,  all  the  resistances  which  tend  to  make 
him  leave  the  proper  position,  the  only  one  in  which  we 
can  successfully  practice  these  oppositions.  It  is  also  of  the 
first  importance  to  put  into  our  proceedings  tact  and 
gradation,  so  that,  for  example,  the  legs  never  give  an 
impulse  that  the  hand  is  not  able  to  take  hold  of  and 


82  NEW  METUOD  OF  HOKSEMANSHIP. 

govern  at  the  same  moment.  I  will  make  this  principle 
more  clear  by  a  short  explanation. 

We  will  suppose  a  horse  at  a  walk,  employing  a  force 
of  forty  pounds,  necessary  to  keep  the  pace  regular  till 
the  moment  of  the  opposition  of  the  hands  and  legs 
which  follow.  By  and  by  comes  a  slow  and  gradual 
pressure  of  the  legs,  which  adds  ten  pounds  to  the 
impulse  of  the  pace.  -As  the  horse  is  supposed  to  be 
perfectly  in  hand,  the  hand  will  immediately  feel  this 
passage  of  forces,  and  must  then  make  itself  master  of 
them  to  transfer  them  to  the  centre.  Meanwhile  the 
legs  will  continue  their  pressure,  to  the  end  that  these 
forces  thus  driven  back  may  not  return  to  the  focus  they 
had  left,  which  would  be  but  a  useless  ebbing  and  flow- 
ing of  forces.  This  succession  of  oppositions  well  com- 
bined will  bring  together  a  great  quantity  of  forces  in 
the  centre  of  the  horse's  body,  and  the  more  these  are 
increased,  the  more  the  animal  will  lose  its  instinctive 
energy.  When  the  pressure  of  the  legs  becomes  insuffi- 
cient to  entirely  collect  the  forces,  more  energetic  means 
must  be  employed,  viz. :  the  touches  of  the  spur. 

The  spurring  ought  to  be  done,  not  violently,  and 
with  much  movement  of  the  legs,  but  with  delicacy  and 
management.  The  rider  ought  to  close  his  legs  so  grad- 
ually, that  before  coming  in  act'ial  contact  with  the 
horse's  flanks,  the  spur  will  not  be  more  than  a 
hair's  breadth  ofl",  if  possible.  The  hand  shovjd  ever  be 
the  echo  to  the  light  touches  with  which  we  commence; 
it  should  then  be  firmly  held,  so  as  to  present  an  opposi- 
tion equal  to  the  force  communicated  by  the  spur.  If  by 
the  time  being  badly  chosen,  the  hand  does  not  exactly 
intercept  the  impulse  given,  and  the  general  commotion 
resulting  therefrom,  we  should,  before  recommencing, 
gather  the  hoi-se  together,  and  re-establish  calm  in  his 


REMOVAL    OF    CENTRE    OF    GRAVITY.  8.J 

motions.  The  force  of  the  spurring  will  be  progressively- 
increased  until  the  horse  bears  it,  when  as  vigorously 
applied  as  possible,  without  presenting  the  least  resist- 
ance to  the  hand,  without  increasing  the  speed  of  his 
pace,  or  without  displacing  himself  as  long  as  we  operate 
with  a  firm  foot. 

A  horse  brought  thus  to  bear  spurring,  is  three-fourths 
broken,  since  we  have  the  free  disposition  of  all  his 
forces.  Besides,  his  centre  of  gravity  being  where 
his  forces  are  all  united,  we  have  brought  it  to  its 
proper  place,  viz.  :  the  middle  of  the  body.  All  the  oscil- 
lations of  the  animal  will  then  be  subordinate  to  us,  and 
we  will  be  able  to  transfer  the  weight  with  ease,  when 
necessary. 

It  is  easy  now  to  understand  where  the  resistances 
have  their  origin ;  whether  the  horse  kicks  up  behind, 
rears,  or  runs  away,  the  cause  is  always  the  centre  of 
gravity  being  in  the  wrong  place.  This  very  cause 
belongs  to  a  defective  formation  that  we  cannot  change, 
it  is  true,  but  the  effects  of  which  we  can  always  modify. 
If  the  horse  kicks  up,  the  centre  of  gravity  is  in  the 
shoulders ;  in  his  croup  when  the  animal  rears,  and  too 
far  forward  when  he  runs  away.  The  principal  thought 
of  the  rider,  then,  ought  to  be  to  keep  the  centre  of 
gravity  in  the  middle  of  the  horse's  body,  since  he  will 
thereby  prevent  him  defending  himself,  and  bring  back 
the  forces  of  the  badly  formed  horse  to  their  true  place, 
which  they  occupy  in  the  finest  organizations.  It  is  this 
that  makes  me  assert  that  a  well-formed  horse  will  not 
make  resistance  nor  move  irregularly,  for  to  do  so 
requires  supernatural  efforts  on  his  part  to  destroy  the 
harmony  of  his  moving  parts,  and  so  greatly  displace 
his  centre  of  gravity.  So,  when  I  speak  of  the  neces- 
sity of  giving  the  horse  a  new  equilibrium,  in   order   to 


84  NEW  METHOD  OF  HORSEMANSHIP. 

prevent  his  defending  himself,  and  also  to  remedy  the 
ungracefulness  of  his  form,  I  allude  to  the  combination 
of  forces  of  which  I  have  been  treating,  or,  rather,  of 
the  removal  of  the  centre  of  gravity  from  one  place  to 
another.  This  result  obtained,  the  education  of  the 
horse  is  complete.  When  the  horseman  succeeds  in 
obtaining  it,  his  talent  becomes  a  truth,  since  it  trans- 
forms ugliness  into  grace,  and  gives  elegance  and  light- 
ness to  movements  which  were  before  heavy  and  con- 
fused.* 

The  rider's  employment  of  force,  when  properly 
applied,  has  a  moral  effect  also  on  the  horse,  that  accele- 
rates the  results.  If  the  impulse  given  by  the  legs  finds 
in  the  hand  the  energy  and  cipropos  necessary  to  regulate 
its  effects,  the  pain  the  animal  sustains  will  be  always 
proportioned  to  his  resistances,  and  his  instinct  will  soon 
make  him  understand  how  he  can  diminish,  and  even 
avoid  altogether  this  constraint,  by  promptly  yield- 
ing to  Avhat  we  demand  of  him.  He  will  hasten  then 
to  submit,  and  will  even  anticipate  our  desires.  But,  I 
repeat,  it  is  only  by  means  of  tact  and  delicate  manage- 
ment that  we  will  gain  this  important  point.    If  the  legs 

*  I  have  often  proved  that  horses  that  were  considered  dull,  or  unable 
to  move  their  shoulders  freely,  have  not  the  defect  that  is  supposed ;  in 
ether  words,  that  it  is  very  rare  that  they  are  paralyzed  m  their  shoulders  so 
as  to  injure  the  regularity  and  speed  of  their  paces^  principally  as  regards 
trotting.  The  shoulders  of  the  horse,  if  I  may  use  the  comparison,  resemble 
the  wings  of  a  windmill;  the  impulse  given  by  the  hocks  replaces  the 
motive  force.  Thore  undoubtedly  exi^'^  some  local  complaints  that  affect  the 
shoulders ;  but  this  is  very  rare  ;  the  defect,  if  there  is  one,  has  its  origin  in 
the  hind-parts.  For  my  part,  I  have  been  able  to  make  all  such  horses  very 
free  in  their  movements,  and  that  after  fifteen  days  of  exercise,  half  an 
hour  a  day.  The  means,  like  all  I  employ,  are  very  simple.  They  consist  in 
suppling  the  neck  to  get  the  horse  in  hand,  and  then,  by  the  aid  of  the  legs, 
and  afterwards  slight  use  of  the  spurs,  in  bringing  his  haunches  nearer  t-he 
centre.  Then  the  hocks  will  obtain  a  leverage,  by  which  they  can  propel 
the  mass  forward,  and  give  the  shoulders  a  freedom  that  people  would  not 
expect. 


USE    OP   THE    SPURS.  85 

give  too  vigorous  an  impulse,  the  horse  will  quickly- 
overcome  the  motion  of  the  hands,  and  resume  with  his 
natural  position  all  the  advantages  it  gives  him  to  foil 
the  efforts  of  the  rider.  If,  on  the  contrary,  the  hand 
presents  too  great  a  resistance,  the  horse  will  soon  over- 
comie  the  legs,  and  find  a  means  of  defending  himself  by- 
backing.  Yet  these  difficulties  must  not  be  allowed  to 
frighten  us ;  they  were  only  serious  ones  when  no 
rational  principle  gave  the  means  of  surmounting  them. 
The  application  of  my  method  will  enable  ordi- 
nary horsemen  to  obtain  results  that  otherwise  could  be 
obtained  only  by  the  most  favored  equestrian  organiza- 
tions. 

When  the  animal  becomes  accustomed  by  means  of 
the  spur  to  such  oppositions,  it  will  become  easy  enough 
to  combat  with  the  spur  all  the  resistances  that  may 
afterwards  manifest  themselves.  Since  the  resistances 
are  always  caused  by  moving  the  croup  sideways,  or  get- 
ting it  too  far  back,  the  spur,  by  immediately  bringing 
the  hind  legs  towards  the  centre  of  the  body,  prevents 
the  support  of  the  hocks,  which  were  able  to  oppose  the 
proper  harmony  of  forces,  and  prevent  the  right  distri- 
bution of  the  weight. 

This  is  the  means  I  always  employ  to  make  the  horse 
pass  from  a  swift  gallop  to  a  halt,  without  straining  his 
hocks,  or  injuring  any  of  the  joints  of  his  hind-parts. 
In  fact,  since  it  is  the  hocks  which  propel  the  mass  for- 
ward, it  suffices  to  destroy  their  motion  to  stop  the 
bound.  The  spur,  by  instantly  bringing  the  hind  legs 
under  the  horse's  belly,  destroys  their  power  from  the 
moment  the  hand  comes  in  the  nick  of  time  to  fix  them 
in  that  position.  Then  the  haunches  bend,  the  croup  is 
lowered  ;  the  weight  and  forces  arrange  themselves  in 
the  order  most  favorable  to  the  free  and  combined  play 


86^  NEW   METHOD    OF   IIOKSEMANSHIP. 

of  each  part,  and  the  violence  of  the  shock,  infinitely- 
decomposed,  is  scarce  perceptible  to  either  horse  or 
rider. 

If,  on  the  contrary,  we  stop  the  horse  by  making  the 
hand  move  first,  the  hocks  remain  far  in  the  rear  of  the 
plumb-line ;  the  shock  is  violent,  painful  for  the  animal, 
and  especially  injurious  to  his  physical  organization. 
Horses  that  are  thus  stopped,  set  themselves  against  the 
bit,  extending  their  neck,  and  require  an  arm  of  iron  and 
a  most  violent  opposing  force.  Such  is  the  custom  of 
the  Arabs,  for  example,  in  halting  suddenly  their  horses, 
by  making  use  of  murderous  bits  that  break  the  bars  of 
their  horses'  mouths.  Thus,  notwithstanding  the  won- 
derful powers  with  which  nature  has  gifted  them,  are 
these  excellent  animals  injured.  The  use  of  the  spur 
must  not  be  commenced  till  by  gathering  him  we  get  the 
horse  well  in  hand ;  then  the  first  touch  of  the  spur 
^should  be  made  felt.  We  will  continue  to  make  use  of 
it,  at  long  intervals,  until  the  horse,  after  his  bound  for- 
ward, presents  no  resistance  to  the  hand,  and  avoids  the 
pressure  of  the  bit,  by  bringing  in  his  chin  towards  his 
chest,  of  his  own  accord.  This  submission  once  obtained, 
we  can  undertake  the  use  of  the  spurs  with  oppositions, 
but  we  must  be  careful  to  discontinue  them  when  the 
horse  is  in  hand.  This  means  has  the  double  advantage 
of  acting  morally  and  physically.  The  first  attacks  will 
be  made  with  a  single  spur,  and  by  bearing  on  the  oppo- 
site rein ;  these  transverse  oppositions  will  have  a  better 
effect  and  give  more  prompt  results.  When  the  horse 
begins  to  contain  himself,  the  two  spurs  being  used  sepa- 
rately, we  can  make  them  felt  together  and  with  an 
equal  gradation.* 

*  I  would  never  have  thoug-ht  that  this  means,  which  serves  as  a  correct- 
ive to  the  processes  used  by  all  horsemen,  would  have  aroused  the  sensibility 


LOWERING   THE    HAND.  87 

To  the  work,  then,  cavaliers  !  If  you  will  follow  my 
principles,  I  can  promise  you  that  your  purse  will  be  less 
often  emptied  into  the  hands  of  horse-dealers,  and  that 
you  will  render  the  meanest  of  your  hacks  agreeable. 
You  will  charm  our  breeders  of  horses,  who  will  attrib- 
ute to  their  efforts  of  regeneration  that  elegance  and 
grace  that  your  art  alone  could  have  given  to  your 
chargers. 

Lowering  the  hand. — The  lowering  the  hand  consists 
in  confirming  the  horse  in  all  his  lightness — that  is,  in 
making  him  preserve  his  equilibrium  without  the  aid  of 
the  reins.  The  suppleness  given  to  all  parts  of  the 
horse,  the  just  oppositions  of  hands  and  legs,  lead 
him  to  keep  himself  in  the  best  possible  position.  To 
find  out  exactly  whether  we  are  obtaining  this  result, 
we  must  have  recourse  to  frequent  lowering  of  the  hand. 
It  is  done  in  this  way :  After  having  slipped  the  right 
hand  to  the  buckle,  and  having  assured  yourself  that  the 
reins  are  even,  you  will  let  go  of  them  with  the  left 
hand,  and  lower  the  right  slowly  to  the  pommel  of  the 
saddle.  To  do  this  regularly,  the  horse  must  neither 
increase  nor  diminish  the  speed  of  his  pace,  and  his  head 
and  neck  continue  to  preserve  their  proper  position. 
The  first  few  times  that  the  horse  is  thus  given  up  to 
himself,  he  will  perhaps  only  take  a  few  steps  while  keep- 
ing in  position,  and  at  the  same  rate  of  speed ;  the  rider 
ought  then  to  make  his  legs  felt  first,  and  the  hand  after- 
wards, to  bring  him  into  his  previous  position.     The  fre- 

of  some  amateurs.  These  latter  have  preferred  to  be  affected  by  exag- 
gerated or  erroneous  reports,  rather  than  satisfy  themselves  by  observation, 
that  this  pretended  cruelty  is  in  fact  the  most  innocent  thing  in  the  world. 
Must  we  not  teach  the  horse  to  respond  to  the  spur  as  well  as  to  the  legs  and 
the  hand  ?  Is  it  not  by  this  spurring,  judiciously  applied,  that  we  bring  in  at 
will  the  hind  legs  more  or  less  near  the  centre  of  gravity  ?  Is  not  this  the 
only  way  of  increasing  or  diminishing  the  leverage  of  the  hocks,  whether 
for  extending  or  raising  them  in  motion,  or  for  the  purpose  of  halting? 


88  NEW    METHOD    OF    HORSEMANSHIP. 

quent  repetition  of  this  lowering  of  the  hand,  after  a  com- 
plete placing  of  the  horse's  head  in  a  perpendicular  posi- 
tion, will  give  him  a  most  exquisite  mouth,  and  the  rider 
a  still  greater  delicacy  of  touch.  The  means  of  guiding 
employed  by  the  latter  will  immediately  be  answered  by 
the  horse,  if  his  forces  have  been  previously  disposed  in 
a  perfectly  harmonious  state. 

The  lowerings  of  the  hand  ought  to  be  practised  first 
at  a  walk,  then  at  a  trot,  afterwards  at  a  gallop.  This 
semblance  of  liberty  gives  such  confidence  to  the  horse 
that  he  gives  up  without  knowing  it ;  he  becomes  our 
submissive  slave,  while  supposing  that  he  is  preserving 
an  entire  independence. 

Of  gathering  thehorse^  or  rassembler. — The  preceding 
exercise  will  render  easy  to  the  rider  that  important  part 
of  horsemanship  called  rassembler.  This  has  been  a  great 
deal  talked  about  by  people,  as  they  have  talked  about 
Providence,  and  all  the  mysteries  that  are  impenetrable 
to  human  perception.  If  it  were  allowable  for  us  to  com- 
pare small  things  to  great,  we  might  say  that  the  more 
or  less  absurd  theories  that  have  been  put  forward  upon 
the  subject  of  divine  power  have  not,  fortunately,  hin- 
dered in  any  way  the  unchangeable  march  of  nature  ; 
but  with  regard  to  the  progress  of  horsemanship,  the 
case  is  not  the  same  as  to  what  has  been  said  and  writ- 
ten on  the  subject  of  tlie  rassembler.  The  fabe  principles 
propagated  on  this  subject  have  made  the  horse  the  play- 
thing and  the  victim  of  the  rider's  ignorance. 

I  proclaim  it,  the  gathering  a  horse  has  never  been 
understood  or  defined  before  me,  for  it  cannot  be  per- 
fectly executed  without  the  regular  application  of  the 
principles  that  I  have  developed  for  the  first  time. 
You  will  be  convinced  of  this  truth  when  you  know  that 
the  rassembler  demands  : 


GATHERING    THE    HORSE.  89 

1.  The  suppling,  partial  and  general,  of  the  neck  and 
haunches. 

2.  The  perfect  position  that  results  from  this  sup- 
pling. 

3.  The  entire  absorption  of  the  forces  of  the  horse  by 
the  rider. 

Now,  as  the  means  of  obtaining  these  different  re- 
sults have  never  been  pointed  out  in  any  treatise  on 
horsemanship,  am  I  not  justified  in  saying  that  the  true 
rassenibler  has  never  been  practised  until  now  ?  It  is, 
nevertheless,  one  of  the  indispensable  conditions  of  the 
horse's  education ;  consequently  I  think  I  am  right 
in  saying  that  before  my  method,  horses  of  defective 
formation  have  never  been  properly  broken. 

How  is  the  rassemhler  defined  in  the  schools  of  horse- 
manship ?  1^0?/  gather  your  horse  by  raising  the  hand 
and  closing  the  legs.  I  ask,  what  good  can  this  move- 
ment of  the  rider  do  upon  an  animal  badly  formed,  con- 
tracted, and  that  remains  under  the  influence  of  all  the 
evil  propensities  of  its  nature  ?  This  mechanical  support 
of  the  hands  and  legs,  far  from  preparing  the  horse  for 
obedience,  will  only  make  him  redouble  his  means  of 
resistance,  since,  while  giving  him  notice  that  we  are 
about  to  demand  a  movement  on  his  part,  we  remain 
unable  to  dispose  his  forces  in  such  a  way  as  to  force  him 
to  it. 

The  real  rassemhler  consists  in  collecting  the  forces  of 
the  horse  in  his  centre  in  order  to  ease  his  extremities, 
and  give  them  up  completely  to  the  disposition  of  the 
rider.  The  animal  thus  finds  himself  transformed  into  a 
kind  of  balance,  of  which  tlie  rider  is  the  centre-piece. 
The  least  touch  upon  one  or  other  of  the  extremities, 
which  represent  the  scales,  will  immediately  send  them 
in  the  direction  we  wish.     The  rider  will  know  that  his 


90  NEW  METHOD    OF    HORSEMANSHIP. 

horse  is  completely  gathered  when  he  feels  him  ready,  as 
it  were,  to  rise  from  all  four  of  his  legs.  The  proper 
position  firstj  and  then  the  use  of  the  spurs,  will  make 
this  beautiful  execution  of  the  gathering  easy  to  both 
horse  and  rider ;  and  what  splendor,  grace  and  majesty  it 
gives  the  animal  !  If  we  have  been  obliged  at  first  to 
use  the  spurs  in  pushing  this  concentration  of  forces 
to  its  farthest  limits,  the  legs  will  afterwards  be  suffi- 
cient to  obtain  the  gathering  necessary  for  the  pre- 
cision and  elevation  required  in  all  complicated  move- 
ments. 

Need  I  recommend  discretion  in  your  demands  ?  I 
think  not.  If  the  rider,  having  reached  this  stage  of 
his  horse's  education,  cannot  comprehend  and  seize 
that  fineness  of  touch,  that  delicacy  of  process  indis- 
pensable to  the  right  application  of  my  principles,  it 
will  prove  him  devoid  of  every  feeling  of  a  horseman ; 
nothing  I  can  say  can  remedy  this  imperfection  of  his 
nature. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

OF  THE  EMPLOYMENT  OF  THE  FORCES  OP  THE  HORSE  BY  THE 
RIDER. 

(  Continuation.) 

Of  the  gallop. — I  have  said  that,  until  now,  the 
greater  part  of  the  resources  of  horsemanship  have  not 
been  understood,  and  had  I  need  of  another  proof  to  sup- 
port my  opinion,  I  would  draw  it  from  the  error,  the 
suppositions,  the  innumerable  contradictions  that  have 
been  heaped  together  in  order  to  explain  so  simple  a 
movement  as  the  gallop.  What  contrary  opinions  upon 
the  means  to  employ  to  make  the  horse  go  off  with  his 
right  foot  ?  It  is  the  support  of  the  rider's  right  leg 
which  determines  the  movement,  one  pretends ;  it  is  that 
of  the  left  leg,  says  another ;  it  is  the  equal  touch  of  the 
two  legs,  affirms  a  third ;  no,  some  others  remark,  very 
seriously,  you  must  let  the  horse  act  naturally. 

How  can  the  truth  be  made  out  in  the  midst  of  this 
conflict  of  such  contrary  principles  ?  Besides,  they  come 
from  such  respectable  sources ;  the  most  of  their  authors 
were  possessed  of  titles  and  dignities  which  are  generally 
only  granted  to  merit.  Have  they  all  been  deceived  for 
a  hundred  and  fifty  years  ?  This  is  not  possible  ;  for 
many  of  them  joined  to  long  practice  a  perfect  know- 
ledge of  physics,  anatomy,  mathematics,  etc.,  etc.  To 
doubt  such  authorities  would  be  as  presumptuous  as  im- 
prudent ;  it  would  have  been  considered  a  crime  of  high 


92  NEW  METHOD    OF    HORSEMANSHIP. 

treason  against  horsemanship.  So  the  riders  kept  their 
ignorance  and  the  horses  their  bad  equilibrium ;  and  if 
any  one  succeeded,  after  two  or  three  years  of  routine 
labor,  in  making  certain  horses  of  a  privileged  organiza- 
tion start  with  the  desired  foot,  and  in  making  them 
change  feet  finally,  at  a  fixed  point,  the  difficulty  then 
was  to  prevent  them  from  always  repeating  this  move- 
ment at  the  same  place. 

Thus  it  is  that  the  most  palpable  errors  gain  credit, 
and  often  are  perpetuated,  until  there  comes  a  practical 
mind,  gifted  with  some  amount  of  common  sense,  who 
contradicts  by  practice  all  the  learned  theories  of  its  pre- 
decessors. They  try  hard  at  first  to  deny  the  knowledge 
of  the  innovator  ;  but  the  masses  who  instinctively  know 
the  true,  and  judge  from  what  they  see,  soon  range  them- 
selves on  his  side,  turn  their  backs  upon  his  detractors, 
and  leave  them  to  their  solitude  and  vain  pretensions. 

To  the  mass  of  horsemen  I  address  myself,  when  I 
say,  either  the  horse  is  under  the  influence  of  your  forces, 
and  entirely  submissive  to  your  power,  or  you  are  strug- 
gling with  him.  If  he  gallops  off"  with  you,  without 
your  being  able  to  modify  or  direct  with  certainty  his 
course,  it  proves  that,  although  subject  to  a  certain 
extent  to  your  power  in  thus  consenting  to  carry  you 
about,  he,  nevertheless,  uses  his  instinctive  forces.  In 
this  case,  there  is  a  perpetual  fight  going  on  between 
you  and  him,  the  chancC'S  of  which  depend  on  the  tem- 
perament and  caprice  of  the  animal,  upon  the  good  or 
bad  state  of  his  digestion.  Changes  of  foot,  in  such  a 
state,  can  only  be  obtained  by  inclining  the  horse  very 
much  to  one  side,  which  makes  the  movement  both  diffi- 
cult and  ungraceful. 

If,  on  the  contrary,  the  animal  is  made  submissive  to  a 
degree   that   he    cannot    contract   any  one  of  his  parts 


THE    GALLOP.  93 

without  the  intervention  and  aid  of  the  rider,  the  latter 
can  direct  at  his  pleasure  the  whole  of  his  moving  parts, 
and,  consequently,  can  easily  and  promptly  execute 
changes  of  feet. 

We  know  the  contraction  of  any  one  part  of  the  horse 
reacts  on  the  neck,  and  that  the  stiffness  of  this  part  pre- 
vents the  proper  execution  of  every  movement.  If, 
then,  at  the  moment  of  setting  off  on  a  gallop,  the 
horse  stiffens  one  of  his  extremities,  and  consequently 
his  neck,  of  what  use  in  determining  him  in  starting 
with  the  right  foot  can  be  the  support  of  one  or  the 
other  leg  of  the  rider,  or  even  of  that  of  both  at  once  ? 
These  means  will  evidently  be  ineffectual  until  we  go 
back  to  the  source  of  the  resistance,  for  the  purpose  of 
combating  and  destroying  it.  Here,  as  in  every  other 
case,  we  see  that  suppleness  and  lightness  alone  can 
make  the  execution  of  the  work  easy. 

If,  when  we  wish  to  make  the  horse  start  with  the 
right  foot,  a  slight  contraction  of  one  part  of  the  animal 
disposes  him  to  start  with  the  left  foot,  and  we  persist  in 
inducing  the  pace,  we  must  employ  two  forces  on  the 
same  side,  viz. :  the  left  leg  and  the  left  hand ;  the  first 
to  determine  the  movement,  the  second  to  combat  the 
contrary  disposition  of  the  horse. 

But  when  the  horse,  perfectly  supple  and  gathered, 
only  brings  his  parts  into  play  after  the  impression  given 
them  by  the  rider,  the  latter,  in  order  to  start  with  the 
right  foot,  ought  to  combine  an  opposition  of  forces 
proper  for  keeping  the  horse  in  equilibrium,  while  plac- 
ing him  in  the  position  required  for  the  movement.  He 
will  then  bear  the  hand  to  the  left,  and  press  his  right 
leg.  Here  we  see  that  the  means  mentioned  above, 
necessary  when  the  horse  is  not  properly  placed,  would 
be  wrong  when  the  animal  is   properly   placed,    since   it 


94  NEW  METHOD    OF    HORSEMANSHIP. 

would  destroy  the  harmony  then  existing  between  his 
forces. 

This  short  explanation  will,  I  hope,  suffice  to  make  it 
understood  that  things  should  be  studied  thoroughly 
before  laying  down  'any  principles  of  action.  Let  us 
have  no  more  systems,  then,  upon  the  exclusive 
use  of  such  or  such  leg  to  determine  the  gallop;  but  a 
settled  conviction  that  the  first  condition  of  this  or  any 
other  performance  is  to  keep  the  horse  supple  and  light — 
that  is  rassemhU  /  then,  after  this,  to  make  use  of  one  or 
the  other  motive  power,  according  as  the  animal,  at  the 
start,  preserves  a  proper  position,  or  seeks  to  leave  it. 
It  must  also  be  understood  that,  while  it  is  the  force 
that  gives  the  position  to  the  horse,  it  is  position  alone 
upon  which  the  regularity  of  movement  depends. 

Passing  frequently  from  the  gallop  with  the  right  foot 
to  that  with  the  left,  in  a  straight  line,  and  with  halts, 
will  soon  bring  the  horse  to  make  these  changes  of  feet 
by  the  touch  without  halting.  Violent  effects  of  force 
should  be  avoided,  which  would  bewilder  the  horse  and 
destroy  his  lightness.  We  must  remember  that  this 
lightness  which  should  precede  all  changes  of  pace  and 
direction,  and  make  every  movement  easy,  graceful  and 
inevitable,  is  the  important  condition  we  should  seek 
before  everything  else. 

It  is  because  they  have  not  understood  this  principle, 
and  have  not  felt  that  the  first  condition  to  dispose  a 
horse  for  the  galloj)  is  to  destroy  all  the  instinctive  forces 
of  the  animal  (forces  that  oppose  the  position  the  move- 
ment demands),  that  horsemen  have  laid  down  so  many 
erroneous  principles,  and  have  all  remained  unable  to 
show  us  the  proper  means  to  be  employed. 

Of  leaping  the  ditch  and  the  bar. — Although  the  com- 
binations   of    equestrian    science    alone  cannot    give  to 


OF    LEAPING.  95 

every  horse  the  energy  and  vigor  necessary  to  clear  a 
ditch  or  a  bar,  there  are,  nevertheless,. principles  by  the 
aid  of  which  we  will  succeed  in  partly  supplying  the 
deficiencies  in  the  natural  formation  of  the  animal.  By 
giving  a  good  direction  to  the  forces,  we  will  facilitate 
the  rise  and  freedom  of  the  bound.  I  do  not  pretend  by 
this,  to  say,  that  a  horse  of  ordinary  capabilities  will 
attain  the  same  height  and  elegance  in  this  movement 
as  one  that  is  well  constituted,  but  be  will,  at  least,  be 
able  to  display  in  it  all  the  resources  of  his  organization 
to  more  purpose. 

The  great  thing  is  to  bring  the  horse  to  attempt  this 
performance  with  good  will.  If  all  the  processes  pre- 
scribed by  me  for  mastering  the  instinctive  forces  of  the 
animal,  and  putting  him  under  the  influence  of  ours,  have 
been  punctually  followed,  the  utility  of  this  progression 
will  be  recognized  by  the  facility  we  have  of  making  the 
horse  clear  all  the  objects  that  are  encountered  in  his 
way.  For  the  rest,  recourse  must  never  be  had,  in  case 
of  a  contest,  to  violent  means,  such  as  a  whip  in  the 
hands  of  a  second  person ;  nor  should  we  seek  to  excite 
the  animal  by  cries ;  this  could  only  produce  a  moral 
effect  calculated  to  frighten  him.  It  is  by  physical 
means  that  we  should  before  all  bring  him  to  obedience, 
since  they  alone  will  enable  him  to  understand  and  exe- 
cute. We  should  then  carry  on  the  contest  calmly,  and 
seek  to  surmount  the  forces  that  lead  him  to  refuse,  by 
acting  directly  on  them.  To  make  the  horse  leap,  we 
will  wait  till  he  responds  freely  to  the  legs  and  spur,  in 
order  to  have  always  a  sure  means  of  government. 

The  bar  will  remain  on  the  ground  until  the  horse  goes 
over  it  without  hesitation ;  it  will  then  be  raised  some 
inches,  progressively  increasing  the  height  until  the  ani- 
mal will  be  just  able   to  clear  it  without  too  violent  an 


96  N^EW  METHOD    OF   HOESEMANSHIP. 

effort.  To  exceed  this  proper  limit  would  be  to  risk  caus- 
ing a  disgust  on  the  part  of  the  horse  that  should  be 
most  carefully  avoided.  The  bar  having  been  thus  grad- 
ually raised,  ought  to  be  made  fast,  in  order  that  the 
horse,  disposed  to  be  indolent,  should  not  make  sport  of 
an  obstacle  which  would  be  no  longer  serious,  when  the 
touch  of  his  feet  sufficed  to  overturn  it.  The  bar  ought 
not  to  be  wrapped  in  any  covering  that  would  lessen  its 
hardness ;  we  should  be  severe  when  we  demand  possi- 
bilities, and  avoid  the  abuses  that  always  result  from  an 
ill-devised  complaisance. 

Before  preparing  to  take  the  leap,  the  rider  should  hold 
himself  sufficiently  firm  to  prevent  his  body  preceding 
the  motion  of  the  horse.  His  loins  should  be  supple,  his 
buttocks  well  fixed  to  the  saddle,  so  that  he  may  experi- 
ence no  shock  nor  violent  reaction.  His  thighs  and  legs 
exactly  enveloping  the  body  and  sides  of  the  horse  will 
give  him  a  power  always  opportune  and  infallible.  The 
hand  in  its  natural  position  will  feel  the  horse's  mouth 
in  order  to  judge  of  the  effects  of  impulsion.  It  is  in  this 
position  that  the  rider  should  conduct  the  horse  towards 
the  obstacle ;  if  he  comes  up  to  it  with  the  same  freedom 
of  pace,  a  light  opposition  of  the  legs  and  hand  will 
facilitate  the  elevation  of  the  fore-hand,  and  the  bound 
of  the  posterior  extremity.  As  soon  as  the  horse  is 
raised,  the  hand  ceases  its  effect,  to  be  again  sustained 
when  the  fore  legs  touch  the  ground,  and  to  prevent 
them  giving  way  under  the  weight  of  the  body. 

We  should  content  ourselves  with  executing  a  few 
leaps  in  accordance  with  the  horse's  powers,  and,  above 
all,  avoid  pushing  bravado  to  the  point  of  wishing  to 
force  the  animal  to  clear  obstacles  that  are  beyond  his 
powers.  I  have  known  very  good  leapers  that  people 
have  succeeded  in  thus  disgusting  forever,  so  that  no 


OF   THE    PIAFFER.  97 

efforts  could  induce  them  to  clear  things  only  half  the 
height  of  those  that  at  first  they  leaped  with  ease. 

Of  the  piaffer."^ — Until  now,  horsemen  have  main- 
tained that  the  nature  of  each  horse  permits  of  only  a 
limited  numher  of  movements,  and  that  if  there  are 
some  that  can  be  brought  to  execute  a  piaffer  high  and 
elegant,  or  low  and  precipitate,  there  are  a  great  number 
of  them  to  whom  this  exercise  is  for  ever  interdicted. 
Their  construction,  they  say,  is  opposed  to  it;  it  is  then 
nature  that  has  so  willed  it ;  ought  we  not  to  bow  before 
this  supreme  arbiter,  and  respect  its  decrees? 

This  opinion  is  undoubtedly  convenient  for  justifying 
its  own  ignorance,  but  it  is  none  the  less  false.  We  can 
hring  all  horses  to  piaffer,  and  I  will  prove  that  in  this 
particularly,  without  reforming  the  work  of  nature, 
without  deranging  the  formation  of  the  bones,  or  that  of 
the  muscles  of  the  animal,  we  can  remedy  the  conse- 
quences of  its  physical  imperfections,  and  change  the 
vicious  disposition  occasioned  by  faulty  construction. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  horse  whose  forces  and  weight 
are  collected  in  one  of  his  extremities  will  be  unfit  to  exe- 
cute the  elegant  cadence  of  the  piaffer.  But  a  graduated 
exercise,  the  completion  of  which  is  the  rassembler^  soon 
allows  us  to  remedy  such  an  inconvenience.  We  can  now 
reunite  all  these  forces  in  their  true  centre  of  gravity, 
and  the  horse  that  bears  the  rassemhler  perfectly  has  all 
the  necessary  qualifications  for  the  piaffer. 

For  ihoi  piaffer  to  be  regular  and  graceful,  it  is  neces- 
sary that  the  horse's  legs,  moved  diagonally,  rise 
together  and  fall  in  the  same  way  upon  the  ground  at  as 
long  intervals  as  possible.  The  animal  ought  not  to  bear 
more  upon  the  hand  than  upon  the  legs  of  the  rider,  that 

*  "  The  piaffer  is  the  horse's  raising  his  legs  diagonally,  as  in  the  trot,  but 
without  advancing  or  receding."— iJauc/ter's  "  Dictionnaire  d' Equitation.'' 


98  NEW   METHOD    OF    HORSEMANSHIP. 

his  equilibrium  may  present  the  perfection  of  that  bal- 
ance of  which  I  have  spoken  in  another  place.  When 
the  centre  of  the  forces  is  thus  disposed  in  the  middle  of 
the  body,  and  when  the  7'assemhler  is  perfect,  it  is  suffi- 
cient, in  order  to  induce  a  commencement  of  piaffer,  to 
communicate  to  the  horse  with  the  legs  a  vibration  at 
first  slight,  but  often  repeated.  By  vibration  I  mean  an 
iiivigoration  of  forces,  of  which  the  rider  ought  always 
to  be  the  agent. 

After  this  first  result,  the  horse  will  be  put  at  a  walk, 
and  the  rider's  legs  gradually  brought  close,  will  give  the 
animal  a  slight  increase  of  action.  Then,  but  only  then, 
the  hand  will  sustain  itself  in  time  with  the  legs,  and  at 
the  same  intervals,  in  order  that  these  two  motive  pow- 
ers, acting  conjointly,  may  keep  up  a  succession  of 
imperceptible  movements,  and  produce  a  slight  contrac- 
tion which  will  spread  itself  over  the  whole  body  of  the 
horse.  This  reiterated  activity  will  give  the  extremities 
a  first  mobility,  which  at  the  beginning  will  be  far  from 
regular,  since  the  increase  of  action  that  this  new  exer- 
cise makes  necessary  will  for  the  moment  break  the  har- 
monious uniformity  of  the  forces.  But  this  general 
action  is  necessary  in  order  to  obtain  even  an  irregular 
mobility,  for  without  it  the  movement  would  be  disor- 
derly, and  there  would  be  a  want  of  harmony  among  the 
difierent  springs.  We  will  content  ourselves,  fior  the 
first  few  days,  with  a  commencement  of  mobility  of  the 
extremities,  being  careful  to  stop  each  time  that  the 
horse  raises  or  puts  down  his  feet,  without  advancing 
them  too  much,  in  order  to  caress  him,  and  speak  to  him, 
and  thus  calm  the  invigoration  that  a  demand,  the  object 
of  which  he  does  not  understand,  must  cause  in  him. 
Nevertheless,  these  caresses  should  be  employed  with 
discernment,  and  when  the  horse  has  done  well,  for   if 


OF    THE    PIAFFER.  99 

badly  applied  they  would  be  rather  injurious  than  useful. 
The  fit  time  for  ceasing  with  the  hands  and  legs  is  more 
important  still ;  it  demands  all  the  rider's  attention. 

The  mobility  of  the  legs  once  obtained,  we  can  com- 
mence to  regulate  it,  and  fix  the  intervals  of  the 
cadence.  Here  again,  I  seek  in  vain  to  indicate  with  the 
pen  the  degree  of  delicacy  necessary  in  the  rider's  pro- 
ceedings, since  his  motions  ought  to  be  answered  by  the 
horse  with  an  exactness  and  d  propos  that  is  unequaled. 
It  is  by  the  alternated  support  of  the  two  legs  that  he  will 
succeed  in  prolonging  the  lateral  balancings  of  the 
horse's  body,  in  such  way  as  to  keep  him  longer  on  one 
side  or  the  other.  He  will  seize  the  moment  when  the 
horse  prepares  to  rest  his  fore  leg  on  the  ground,  to  make 
the  pressure  of  his  own  leg  felt  on  the  same  side,  and 
add  to  the  inclination  of  the  animal  in  the  same  direc- 
tion. If  this  time  is  well  seized,  the  horse  will  balance 
himself  slowly,  and  the  cadence  will  acquire  that  eleva- 
tion so  fit  to  bring  out  all  its  elegance  and  all  its  majesty. 
These  times  of  the  legs  are  difficult,  and  require  great 
practice  ;  but  their  results  are  too  splendid  for  the  rider 
not  to  strive  to  seize  the  light  variations  of  them. 

The  precipitate  movement  of  the  rider's  legs  acceler- 
ates also  i\iQ  piaffer.  It  is  he,  then,  who  regulates  at  will 
the  greater  or  less  degree  of  quickness  of  the  cadence. 
The  performance  of  the  piaffer  is  not  elegant  and  perfect 
until  the  horse  performs  it  without  repugnance,  which 
will  always  be  the  case  when  the  forces  are  kept  to- 
gether, and  the  position  is  suitable  to  the  demands  of 
the  movement.  It  is  urgent,  then,  to  be  well  acquainted 
with  the  amount  of  force  necessary  for  the  performance 
of  the  piaffer^  so  as  not  to  overdo  it.  We  should,  above 
all,  be  careful  to  keep  the  horse  rassemhU^  which,  of  it- 
self, will  induce  the  movement  without  efibrt. 


CHAPTEK  YIII. 

DIVISION  OP  THE  WORK. 

I  HAVE  developed  all  the  means  to  be  employed  in  com- 
pleting the  horse's  education ;  it  remains  for  me  to  say- 
how  the  horseman  ought  to  divide  his  work,  in  order  to 
connect  the  different  exercises  and  pass  by  degrees  from 
the  simple  to  the  complicated. 

Two  months  of  work,  consisting  of  two  lessons  a  day 
of  a  half  hour  each  —that  is  to  say,  one  hundred  and 
twenty  lessons — will  be  amply  sufficient  to  bring  the 
greenest  horse  to  peform  regularly  all  the  preceding  exer- 
cises. I  hold  to  two  short  lessons  a  day,  one  in  the 
morning,  the  other  in  the  afternoon  ;  they  are  necessary 
to  obtain  good  results. 

We  disgust  a  young  horse  by  keeping  him  too  long 
at  exercises  that  fatigue  him,  the  more  so  as  his  intelli- 
gence is  less  prepared  to  understand  what  we  wish  to  de- 
mand of  him.  On  the  other  hand,  an  interval  of  twenty- 
four  hours  is  too  long,  in  my  opinion,  for  the  animal  to 
remember  the  next  day  what  he  had  comprehended  the 
day  before. 

The  general  work  will  be  divided  into  five  series  or 
lessons,  distributed  in  the  following  order  : 

First  lesson.  Eight  days  of  work. — The  first  twenty 
minutes  of  this  lesson  will  be  devoted  to  the  stationary 
exercise  for  the  flexions  of  the  jaw  and  neck;  the  rider 
first  on  foot,  and  then  on  horseback,  will  follow  the  pro- 
gression I  have  previously  indicated.     During  the  last 


DIVISION    OF    THE    WORK.  101 

ten  minutes,  he  will  make  the  horse  go  forward  at  a  walk 
without  trying  to  animate  him,  but  applying  himself  all 
the  while  to  keeping  his  head  in  the  position  of  ramener. 
He  will  content  himself  with  executing  a  single  change 
of  hand,  in  order  to  go  as  well  to  the  right  hand  as  to 
the  left.  The  fourth  or  fifth  day,  the  rider,  before  put- 
ting his  horse  in  motion,  will  make  him  commence  some 
slight  flexions  of  the  croup. 

Second  lesson.  Ten  days  o/ioorA;.— The  first  fifteen 
minutes  will  be  occupied  in  the  stationary  supplings, 
comprising  the  flexions  of  the  croup  performed  more 
completely  than  in  the  preceding  lesson ;  then  will  begin 
the  backing.  We  will  devote  the  other  half  of  the  lesson 
to  the  moving  straight  ahead,  once  or  twice  taking  the 
trot  at  a  very  moderate  pace.  The  rider  during  this 
second  part  of  the  work,  without  ceasing  to  pay  atten- 
tion to  the  ramener,  will  yet  commence  light  oppositions 
of  hands  and  legs,  in  order  to  prepare  the  horse  to  bear 
the  combined  effects,  and  to  give  regularity  to  his  paces. 
We  will  also  commence  the  changes  of  direction  at  a 
walk,  while  preserving  the  ra?nener,  and  being  careful 
to  make  the  head  and  neck  always  go  first. 

Third  lesson.  Twelve  days  of  work.— Six  or  eight 
minutes  only  will  at  first  be  occupied  in  the  stationary 
flexions ;  those  of  the  hind-parts  should  be  pushed  to  the 
completion  of  the  reversed  pirouettes.  We  will  continue 
by  the  backing ;  then  all  the  rest  of  the  lesson  will  be 
devoted  to  perfecting  the  walk  and  the  trot,  commenc- 
ing at  this  latter  pace  the  changes  of  direction.  The 
rider  will  often  stop  the  horse,  and  continue  to  watch 
attentively  the  rarnener  during  the  changes  of  pace  or 
direction.  He  will  also  commence  the  exercise  de  deux 
pistes  at  a  walk,  as  well  as  the  rotation  of  the  shoulders 
around  the  haunches. 


102  NEW  ilETIIOT)    OF    IIORSEMAXSHIP. 

Fourth  lesson.  Fifteen  days  of  work. — After  five 
minutes  being  devoted  to  the  stationary  supplings,  the 
rider  will  first  repeat  all  the  work  of  the  preceding  les- 
sons ;  he  will  commence,  with  a  steady  foot,  the 
attaques,^  in  order  to  confirm  the  ramener  and  p'repare 
the  rassembler.  He  will  renew  the  attaques  while  in 
motion,  and  when  the  horse  bears  them  patiently,  he 
will  commence  the  gallop.  He  will  content  himself  in 
the  commencement  with  executing  four  or  five  lopes 
only  before  resuming  the  walk,  and  then  start  again 
with  a  different  foot,  unless  the  horse  requires  being 
exercised  more  often  on  one  foot  than  the  other.  In 
passing  from  the  gallop  to  the  walk,  we  should  watch 
with  care  that  the  horse  resumes  this  latter  pace  as 
quickly  as  possible  without  taking  short  steps  on  a  trot, 
all  the  w^hile  keeping  the  head  and  neck  light.  He  will 
only  be  exercised  at  the  gallop  at  the  end  of  each  lesson. 

Fifth  lesson.  Fifteen  days  of  work. — These  last 
fifteen  days  will  be  occupied  in  assuring  the  perfect  exe- 
cution of  all  the  preceding  work,  and  in  perfecting  the 
pace  of  the  gallop  until  we  can  execute  easily  changes  of 
direction,  changes  of  feet  at  every  step,  and  passaging. 
We  can  then  exercise  the  horse  at  leaping  the  bar  and 
at  the  piaffer.  Thus  in  two  months,  and  upon  any 
horse,  we  will  have  accomplished  a  work  that  formerly 
required  years,  and  then  often  gave  incomplete  results. 
And  I  repeat,  however  insufficient  so  short  a  space  of 
time  may  appear,  it  will  produce  the  effect  I  promise,  if 
you  follow  exactly  all  my  directions.  I  have  demon- 
strated this  upon  a  hundred  different  occasions,  and 
many  of  my  pu2:)ils  are  able  to  prove  it  as  well  as 
myself. 

In  establishing  the  above  order  of  work,  be  it  well 
*  The  use  of  the  spurs. 


DIVISION    OF    THE    WORK.  103 

understood  that  I  found  myself  on  the  dispositions  of 
horses  in  general.  A  horseman  of  any  tact  will  soon 
understand  the  modifications  that  he  ought  to  make  in 
their  application,  according  to  the  particular  nature  of 
his  pupil.  Such  a  horse,  for  example,  will  require  more 
or  less  persistence  in  the  flexions ;  another  one  in  the 
backing ;  this  one,  dull  and  apathetic,  will  require  the 
use  of  the  spurs  before  the  time  I  have  indicated.  All 
this  is  an  alFair  of  intelligence ;  it  would  be  to  insult  my 
readers  not  to  suppose  them  capable  of  supplying  to  the 
details  what  it  is  elsewhere  impossible  to  particularize. 
You  can  readily  understand  that  there  are  irritable, 
ill-disposed  horses,  whose  defective  dispositions  have 
been  made  worse  by  previous  bad  management.  With 
such  subjects  it  is  necessary  to  put  more  persistence  into 
the  supplings  and  the  walk.  In  every  case,  whatever 
the  slight  modifications  that  the  difierence  in  the  dis- 
positions of  the  subjects  render  necessary,  I  persist  in  say- 
inof  that  there  are  no  horses  whose  education  ouajht  not 
to  be  completed  by  my  method  in  the  space  I  designate. 
I  mean  here,  that  this  time  is  sufficient  to  give  the  forces 
of  the  horse  the  fitness  necessary  for  executing  all  the 
movements ;  the  finish  of  education  depends  finally  on 
the  nicety  of  touch  of  the  rider.  In  fact,  my  method 
has  the  advantages  of  recognizing  no  limits  to  the  pro- 
gress of  equitation,  and  there  is  no  performance  eques- 
trianly  possible  that  a  horseman  who  understands 
properly  applying  my  principles  cannot  make  his  horse 
execute.  I  am  about  to  give  a  convincing  proof  in  sup- 
port of  this  assertion,  by  explaining  the  sixteen  new 
figures  of  the  manege  that  I  have  added  to  the  collection 
of  the  old  masters. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

APPLICATION  OP  THE  PRECEDING  PRINCIPLES  TO  THE  PER- 
FORMANCE OP  THE  HORSES,  PARTISAN,  CAPITAINE,  NEPTUNE, 
AND  BURIDAN. 

The  persons  who  systematically  denied  the  efficacy  of 
my  method  ought,  necessarily,  also  to  deny  the  results 
shown  to  them.  They  were  forced  to  acknowledge  that 
my  performance  at  the  Cirque-  Olympique  was  new  and 
extraordinary,  but  attributed  it  to  causes,  some  more 
strange  than  others;  all  the  while  insisting  that  the 
equestrian  talent  of  the  rider  did  not  go  for  nothing  in 
the  expertness  of  the  horse.  According  to  some,  I  was 
a  second  Carter,  accustoming  my  horses  to  obedience 
by  depriving  them  of  sleep  and  food ;  according  to 
others,  I  bound  their  legs  with  cords,  and  thus  held 
them  suspended  to  prepare  them  for  a  kind  of  puppet- 
show  ;  some  were  not  far  from  believing  that  I  fascin- 
ated them  by  the  power  of  my  looks.  Finally,  a  certain 
portion  of  the  public,  seeing  these  animals  perform  in 
time  to  the  sound  of  the  charming  music  of  one  of  my 
friends,  M.  Paul  Cuzent,  insisted  seriously  that  they 
undoubtedly  possessed,  in  a  very  great  degree,  the 
instinct  of  melody,  and  that  they  would  stop  short  with 
the  clarionets  and  trombones.  So,  the  sound  of  the 
music  was  more  powerful  over  my  horse  than  I  was 
myself !  The  animal  obeyed  a  do  or  a  sol  nicely  touched ; 
but  my  legs  and  hands  went  for  nothing  in  their  effects. 
Would  it  be  believed  that  such  nonsense  was  uttered  by 


APPLICATIOX    OF    PRINCIPLES.  105 

people  that  passed  for  riders  ?  I  can  comprehend  their 
not  having  understood  my  means  at  first,  since  my 
method  was  new;  but  before  judging  it  in  so  strange  a 
manner,  they  ought,  at  least,  it  seems  to  me,  to  have 
sought  to  understand  it. 

I  had  found  the  round  of  ordinary  feats  of  horseman- 
ship too  limited,  since  it  was  sufficient  to  execute  one 
movement  well  to  immediately  practise  the  others  with 
the  same  facility.  So,  it  was  proved  to  me  that  the  rider 
who  passed  with  precision  along  a  straight  line  sideways 
{de  deux  pistes)  at  a  walk,  trot  and  gallop,  could  go  in  the 
same  way  with  the  head  or  the  croup  to  the  wall,  with  the 
shoulder  in,  perform  the  ordinary  or  reversed  volts,  the 
changes  and  counterchanges  of  hands,  etc.,  etc.  As  to 
the  piaffer,  it  was,  as  1  have  said,  nature  alone  that 
settled  this.  This  long  and  fastidious  performance  had 
no  other  variations  than  the  different  titles  of  the  move- 
ments, since  it  was  sufficient  to  vanquish  one  difficulty 
to  be  able  to  surmount  all  the  others.  I  then  created 
new  figures  of  the  manege,  the  execution  of  which  ren- 
dered necessary  more  suppleness,  more  ensemble,  more 
finish  in  the  education  of  the  horse.  This  was  easy  to 
me  with  my  system  ;  and  to  convince  my  adversaries 
that  there  was  neither  magic  nor  mystery  in  my  per- 
formance at  the  Cirque,  I  am  going  to  explain  by  what 
processes  purely  equestrian,  and  even  without  having 
recourse  to  piliers^  cavessons  or  horse-whips,  I  have 
brought  my  horses  to  execute  the  sixteen  figures  of  the 
manege  that  appear  so  extraordinary. 

1.  Instantaneous  flexion  and  support  in  the  air  of 
either  one  of  the  fore  legs,  while  the  other  three  legs 
remain  fixed  to  the  ground. 

The  means  of  making  the  horse  raise  one  of  his  fore 
legs  is  very  simple,  as  soon  as  the  animal  is  perfectly 


106  XEW  METHOD    OF    HORSEMANSHIP, 

supple  and  rassemhU.  To  make  him  raise,  for  example, 
the  riglit  leg,  it  is  sufficient  to  incline  his  head  slightly 
to  the  right,  while  making  the  weight  of  his  body  fall 
upon  the  left  side.  The  rider's  legs  will  be  sustained 
firmly  (the  left  a  little  more  than  the  right),  that  the 
efiect  of  the  hand  which  brings  the  head  to  the  right 
should  not  react  upon  the  weight,  and  that  the  forces 
which  serve  to  fasten  to  the  ground  the  over-weighted 
part  may  give  the  horse's  right  leg  enough  action  to 
make  it  rise  from  the  ground.  By  a  repetition  of  this 
exercise  a  few  times,  you  will  succeed  in  keeping  this 
leg  in  the  air  as  long  a  time  as  you  wish. 

2.  Mobility  of  the  haunches,  the  horse  resting  on  his 
fore  legs,  while  his  hind  legs  balance  themselves  alter- 
nately the  one  over  the  other  ;  when  the  hind  leg  which 
is  raised  from  left  to  right  is  moved,  and  is  placed  on 
the  ground  to  become  pivot  in  its  turn,  the  other  to  be 
instantly  raised  and  to  execute  the  same  movement. 

The  simple  mobility  of  the  haunches  is  one  of  the  exer- 
cises that  I  have  pointed  out  for  the  elementary  educa- 
tion of  the  horse.  We  can  complicate  this  performance 
by  multiplying  the  alternate  contact  of  the  legs,  until  we 
succeed  in  easily  carrying  the  horse's  croup,  one  leg 
over  the  other,  in  such  a  way  that  the  movement  from 
left  to  right  and  from  right  to  left  cannot  exceed  one 
step.  This  exercise  is  good  to  give  great  nicety  of  touch 
to  the  rider,  and  to  prepare  the  horse  to  respond  to  the 
lightest  effects. 

3.  Passing  instantly  from  the  ^o^  piaffer  to  the  preci- 
pitate p26(^er,  and  vice  versd. 

After  having  brought  the  horse  to  display  great  mobil- 
ity of  the  legs,  we  ought  to  regulate  the  movement  of 
them.  It  is  by  the  slow  and  alternated  pressure  of  his 
legs  that  the  rider  will  obtain  the  &low  piqffer.     He  will 


BACKING.  107 

make  it  precipitate  by  multiplying  the  contact.  Both 
X\iQS,e  piaffers  can  be  obtained  from  all  horses ;  but  as 
this  is  among  the  great  difficulties,  perfect  tact  is  indis- 
pensable. 

4.  To  back  with  an  equal  elevation  of  the  transverse 
legs,  which  leave  the  ground  and  are  placed  again  on  it 
at  the  same  time,  the  horse  executing  the  movement 
with  as  much  freedom  and  facility  as  if  he  were  going 
forward,  and  without  apparent  aid  from  the  rider. 

Backing  is  not  new,  but  it  certainly  is  new  upon  the 
conditions  that  I  lay  down.  It  is  only  by  the  aid  of  a 
complete  suppling  and  ramener  that  we  succeed  in  so 
suspending  the  horse's  body  that  the  distribution  of  the 
weight  is  perfectly  regular  and  the  extremities  acquire 
energy  and  activity  alike.  This  movement  then  becomes 
as  easy  and  graceful  as  it  is  painful  and  devoid  of  ele- 
gance when  it  is  changed  into  acGulei)ient,^ 

5.  Simultaneous  mobility  of  the  two  diagonal  legs,  the 
horse  stationary.  After  having  raised  the  two  opposite 
legs,  he  carries  them  to  the  rear  to  bring  them  back  again 
to  the  place  they  first  occupied,  and  recommences  the 
same  movement  with  the  other  diagonal. 

The  suppling,  and  having  got  the  horse  in  hand, 
make  this  movement  easy.  When  he  no  longer  pre- 
sents any  resistance,  he  appreciates  the  lightest  effects  of 
the  rider,  intended  in  this  case  to  displace  only  the  least 
possible  quantity  of  forces  and  weight  necessary  to  set 
in  motion  the  opposite  extremities.  By  repeating  this 
exercise,  it  will  in  a  little  while  be  rendered  familiar  to 
the  horse.  The  finish  of  the  mechanism  will  soon  give 
the  finish  of  intelligence. 

*  Acculement  and  reculer  liave  been  previously  explained  ;  one  is  the  horse 
backing  falsely,  ttie  other  backing  correctly.— Translator. 


108  NEW  METHOD    OF   HORSEMANSHIP. 

6.  Trot  with  a  sustained  extension ;  the  horse,  after 
having  raised  his  legs,  carries  them  forward,  sustaining 
them  an  instant  in  the  air  before  replacing  them  on  the 
ground. 

The  processes  that  form  the  basis  of  my  method  repro- 
duce themselves  in  each  simple  movement,  and  with  still 
more  reason  in  the  complicated  ones.  If  equilibrium  is 
only  obtained  by  lightness,  in  return  there  is  no  light- 
ness without  equilibrium  ;  it  is  by  the  union  of  these  two 
conditions  that  the  horse  will  acquire  the  facility  of 
extending  his  trot  to  the  farthest  possible  limits,  and 
will  completely  change  his  original  gait. 

1.  Serpentine  trot,  the  horse  turning  to  the  right  and 
to  the  left,  to  return  nearly  to  his  starting  point,  after 
having  made  five  or  six  steps  in  feach  direction. 

This  movement  will  present  no  difficulty  if  we  keep 
the  horse  in  hand  while  executing  the  flexions  of  the  neck 
at  the  walk  and  trot ;  you  can  readily  see  that  such  a 
performance  is  impossible  without  this  condition.  The 
leg  opposite  to  the  side  towards  which  the  neck  turns 
ought  always  to  be  pressed. 

8.  Instant  halt  by  the  aid  of  the  spurs,  the  horse 
being  at  a  gallop. 

When  the  horse,  being  perfectly  suppled,  will  prop- 
erly bear  the  attaqiies  and  the  rassemhler^  he  will  be  fit 
to  execute  the  halt  upon  the  above  conditions.  In  the 
application  of  this  we  will  start  with  a  slow  gallop,  in 
order  to  go  on  successively  to  the  greatest  speed.  The 
legs  preceding  the  hand,  will  bring  the  horse's  hind  legs 
under  the  middle  of  his  body,  then  a  prompt  efiect  of  the 
^and,  by  fixing  them  in  this  position,  will  immediately 
stop  the  bound.  By  this  means  we  spare  the  horse's 
organization,  whicii  can  thus  be  always  kept  free  from 
blemish. 


THE    BACKWARD    TROT.  109 

9.  Continued  mobility  or  pawing,  while  stationary,  of 
one  of  the  horse's  fore  legs ;  the  horse,  at  the  rider's 
will,  executing  the  movement  by  which  he,  of  his  own 
accord,  often  manifests  his  impatience. 

This  movement  will  be  obtained  by  the  same  process 
that  serves  to  keep  the  horse's  leg  in  the  air.  In  the 
latter  case,  the  rider's  legs  must  impress  a  continued 
support,  in  order  that  the  force  which  holds  the  horse's 
leg  raised  keep  up  its  effect ;  while,  for  the  movement 
now  in  question,  we  must  renew  the  action  by  a  quantity 
of  slight  pressures,  in  order  to  cause  the  motion  of  the 
leg  held  up  in  the  aii*.  This  extremity  of  the  horse  will 
soon  acquire  a  movement  subordinate  to  that  of  the 
rider's  legs,  and  if  the  time  is  well  seized,  it  will  seem, 
so  to  say,  that  we  make  the  animal  move  by  the  aid  of 
mechanical  means. 

10.  To  trot  backwards,  the  horse  preserving  the  same 
cadence  and  the  same  step  as  in  the  trot  forwards. 

The  first  condition,  in  order  to  obtain  the  trot  back- 
wards, is  to  keep  the  horse  in  a  perfect  cadence  and  as 
rassemble  as  possible.  The  second  is  all  in  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  rider.  He  ought  to  seek  insensibly  by  the 
combined  effects  to  make  the  forces  of  the  fore-hand 
exceed  those  of  the  hind-parts,  without  affecting  the 
harmony  of  the  movement.  Thus  we  see  that  by  the 
rassembler  we  will  successively  obtain  the  piaffer  sta- 
tionary, and  \\iQ piaffer  backwards,  even  without  the  aid 
of  the  reins. 

11.  To  gallop  backwards,  the  time  being  the  same  as 
in  the  ordinary  gallop  ;  but  the  fore  legs  once  raised,  in 
place  of  coming  to  the  ground,  are  carried  backwards, 
that  the  hind-parts  may  execute  the  same  backward 
movement  as  soon  as  the  fore-feet  are  placed  on  the 
ground. 


110  NEW  METHOD    OF    HORSEMANSHIP. 

The  principle  is  the  same  as  for  the  preceding  perform 
ance ;  with  a  perfect  rassembler^  the  hind  legs  will  find 
themselves  so  brought  under  the  centre,  that  by  raising 
the  fore-hand,  the  movement  of  the  hocks  can  only  be  an 
upward  one.  This  performance,  though  easily  executed 
with  a  powerful  horse,  ought  not  to  be  attempted  with 
one  not  possessing  this  quality. 

12.  Changing  feet  every  step,  each  time  of  the  gallop 
being  done  on  a  different  leg. 

In  order  to  practise  this  difficult  performance,  the 
horse  ought  to  be  accustomed  to  execute  perfectly,  and 
as  frequently  as  possible,  changing  feet  at  the  touch. 
Before  .attempting  these  changes  of  feet  every  step,  we 
ought  to  have  brought  him  to  execute  this  movement  at 
every  other  step.  Everything  depends  upon  his  aptness, 
and  above  all,  on  the  intelligence  of  the  rider ;  with  this 
latter  quality,  there  is  no  obstacle  that  is  not  to  be  sur- 
mounted. To  execute  this  performance  with  the  desira* 
ble  degree  of  precision,  the  horse  should  remain  light, 
and  perserve  the  same  degree  of  action  ;  the  rider,  on 
his  part,  should  also  avoid  roughly  inclining  the  horse's 
fore-hand  to  one  side  or  the  other. 

13.  Ovdim2iYY pirouettes  on  thr^Q  legs,  the  foreleg  on 
the  side  towards  which  we  are  turning :  remaining  in  the 
air  during  the  whole  time  of  the  movement. 

Ordinary  pirouettes  should  be  familiar  to  a  horse 
broken  after  my  method,  and  I  have  above  shown  the 
means  to  make  him  hold  up  one  of  his  fore  feet.  If  these 
two  movements  are  well  executed  separately,  it  will  be 
easy  to  connect  them  in  a  single  performance.  After 
having  disposed  the  horse  for  the  pirouette^  we  will  pre- 
pare the  mass  in  such  a  way  as  to  raise  the  fore  leg ;  this 
once  in  the  air,  we  will  throw  the  weight  on  the  part 
opposite  to  the  side  towards  which  we  wish  to  turn,  by 


TO    BACK    WITH    A    HALT.  Ill 

bearing  upon  this  part  with  the  hand  and  leg.  The  leg 
of  the  rider  placed  on  the  converging  side,  will  only  act 
daring  this  time  so  as  to  carry  the  forces  forward,  in 
order  to  prevent  the  hand  producing  a  retrograde  effect. 

1 4.  To  back  with  a  halt  at  each  step,  the  right  leg  of 
the  horse  remaining  in  front  motionless  and  held  out  at 
the  full  distance  that  the  left  leg  has  passed  over,  and 
vice  versd. 

This  movement  depends  upon  the  nicety  of  touch  of 
the  rider,  as  it  results  from  an  effect  of  forces  impossi- 
ble to  specify.  Though  this  performance  is  not  very 
graceful,  the  experienced  rider  will  do  well  to  often 
practise  it,  in  order  to  learn  to  modify  the  effects  of 
forces,  and  acquire  all  the  niceties  of  his  art  in  perfec- 
tion. 

15.  HegulsLY piaffer  with  an  instant  halt  on  three  legs, 
the  fourth  remaining  in  the  air. 

Here,  also,  as  for  the  ordinary  pirouettes  upon  three 
leo-s,  it  is  by  exercising  the  piaffer  and  the  flexion  of  one 
leg  separately,  that  we  will  succeed  in  uniting  the  two 
movements  in  one.  We  will  interrupt  the  p)iaffer  by 
arresting  the  contraction  of  three  of  the  legs  so  as  to 
leave  it  in  one  only.  It  is  sufficient,  then,  in  order  to 
accustom  the  horse  to  this  performance,  to  stop  him 
while  he  is  piaffing^  by  forcing  him  to  contract  one  of 
his  legs. 

16.  Change  of  feet  every  time  at  equal  intervals,  the 
horse  remaining  in  the  same  place. 

This  movement  is  obtained  by  the  same  proceedings 
as  are  employed  for  changing  feet  every  time  while 
advancing ;  only  it  is  much  more  complicated,  since  we 
must  give  an  exact  impulsion  sufficiently  strong  to  deter- 
mine the  movement  of  the  legs  without  the  body 
advancing.     This  movement   consequently  demands  a 


1  ]  2  NEW  METHOD    OF    HORSEMANSHIP. 

great  deal  of  tact  on  the  rider's  part,  and  cannot  be  prac- 
tised except  on  a  perfectly  broken  horse,  but  broken  as 
I  understand  it. 

Such  is  the  vocabulary  of  the  new  figures  of  the  man- 
ege that  I  have  created,  and  so  often  executed  before  the 
public.  As  you  see,  this  performance,  which  appeared 
so  extraordinary  that  people  would  not  believe  it 
belonged  to  equestrianism,  becomes  very  simple  and 
comprehensible  as  soon  as  you  have  studied  the  princi- 
ples of  my  method.  There  is  not  one  of  these  move- 
ments in  which  is  not  discovered  the  application  of  the 
precepts  I  have  developed  in  this  book. 

But,  I  repeat,  if  I  have  enriched  equitation  with  a  new 
and  interesting  work,  I  do  not  pretend  to  have  attained 
the  farthest  limits  of  the  art ;  and  one  may  come  after 
me,  who,  if  he  will  study  my  system  and  practise  it  with 
intelligence,  will  be  able  to  pass  me  on  the  course,  and 
add  something  yet  to  the  results  I  have  obtained. 


CHAPTER  X. 

SUCCINCT   EXPOSITION   OF     THE   METHOD   BY   QUESTIONS   AND 
ANSWERS. 

Question.  What  do  you  understand  by  force  ? 

Answer.  The  motive  power  which  results  from  muscu- 
lar contraction. 

Q.  What  do  you  understand  by  instinctive  forces  ? 

A.  Those  which  come  from  the  horse — that  is  to  say, 
of  which  he  himself  determines  the  employment. 

Q.  What  do  you  understand  by  transmitted  forces  ? 

A.  Those  which  emanate  from  the  rider,  and  are 
immediately  appreciated  by  the  horse. 

Q.   What  do  you  understand  by  resistances  ? 

A.  The  force  which  the  horse  presents,  and  with 
which  he  seeks  to  establish  a  struggle  to  his  advantage. 

Q.  Ought  we  first  to  set  to  work  to  annul  the  forces 
the  horse  presents  for  resistance,  before  demanding  any 
other  movements  of  him  ? 

A.  Without  doubt,  as  then  the  force  of  the  rider^ 
which  should  displace  the  weight  of  the  mass,  finding 
itself  absorbed  by  an  equivalent  resistance,  every  move- 
ment becomes  impossible. 

Q.  By  what  means  can  we  combat  the  resistances  ? 

A.  By  the  methodical  and  separate  suppling  of  the 
jaw,  the  neck,  the  haunches,  and  the  loins. 

Q.  What  is  the  use  of  the  flexions  of  the  jaw  ? 

A.  As  it  is  upon  the  lower  jaw  that  the  efiects  of  the 
rider's  hand  are  first  felt,  these  will  be  null  or  incomplete 


114  NEW  METHOD    OF    HORSEMANSHIP. 

if  the  jaw  is  contracted  or  closed  against  the  upper  one. 
Besides,  as  in  this  case  the  dispLacing  of  the  horse's  body 
is  only  obtained  with  difficulty,  the  movements  resulting 
therefrom  will  also  be  painful. 

Q.  Is  it  enough  that  the  horse  champ  his  bit  for  the 
flexion  of  his  jaw  to  leave  nothing  more  to  wish  for  ? 

A.  No,  it  is  also  necessary  that  the  horse  let  go  of  the 
hit — that  is  to  say,  that  he  should  separate  (at  our  will) 
his  jaws  as  much  as  possible. 

Q.  Can  all  horses  have  this  mobility  of  jaw? 

A.  All  without  exception,  if  we  follow  the  gradation 
pointed  out,  and  if  the  rider  does  not  allow  himself  to  be 
deceived  by  the  flexion  of  the  neck.  Useful  as  this  is,  it 
would  be  insufficient  without  the  play  of  the  jaw. 

Q.  In  the  direct  flexion  of  the  jaw,  ought  we  to  give 
a  tension  to  the  curb-reins  and  those  of  the  snaffle  at  the 
same  time  ? 

A.  No,  we  must  make  the  snaffle  precede  (the  hand 
being  placed  as  indicated  in  Plate  No.  III.),  until  the  head 
and  neck  are  lowered  ;  afterwards  the  pressure  of  the  bit, 
in  time  with  the  snaffle,  will  promptly  make  the  jaws 
open. 

Q.  Ought  we  often  to  repeat  this  exercise? 

A.  It  should  be  continued  until  the  jaws  separate  by 
a  light  pressure  of  the  bit  or  snaffle. 

Q.  Why  is  the  stifi'ness  of  the  neck  so  powerful  an 
obstacle  to  the  education  of  the  horse? 

A.  Because  it  absorbs  to  its  profit  the  force  which 
the  rider  seeks  in  vain  to  transmit  throughout  the  whole 
mass. 

Q.  Can  the  haunches  be  supplied  separately  ? 

A.  Certainly  they  can  ;  and  this  exercise  is  comprised 
in  what  is  called  stationary  exercise. 

Q.  What  is  its  useful  object  ? 


EXPOSITION    OF   THE    METHOD.  115 

A.  To  prevent  the  bad  effects  resulting  from  the  in- 
stinctive forces  of  the  horse,  and  to  make  him  appreciate 
the  forces  transmitted  by  the  rider  without  opposing 
them. 

Q.  Can  the  horse  execute  a  movement  without  a  shift- 
ing of  weight  ? 

A.  It  is  impossible.  We  must  first  seek  to  make  the 
horse  take  a  position  which  causes  such  a  variation  in 
his  equilibrium  that  the  movement  may  be  a  natural  con- 
sequence of  it. 

Q.  What  do  you  understand  by  position  ? 

A.  An  arrangement  of  the  head,  neck  and  body,  pre- 
viously disposed  according  to  the  movements  of  the 
horse. 

Q.  In  what  consists  the  ramener  ? 

A.  In  the  perpendicular  position  of  the  head,  and  the 
lightness  that  accompanies  it. 

§.  What  is  the  distribution  of  the  forces  and  v/^eight 
in  the  ramener  f 

A.  The  forces  and  weight  are  equally  distributed 
through  all  the  mass. 

Q.  How  do  we  address  the  intelligence  of  the  horse  ? 

A.  By  the  position,  because  it  is  that  which  makes  the 
horse  know  the  rider's  intentions. 

Q.  Why  is  it  necessary  that  in  the  backward  move- 
ments of  the  horse,  the  legs  of  the  rider  precede  the 
hand  ? 

A.  Because  we  must  displace  the  points  of  support 
before  placing  upon  them  the  mass  that  they  must  sus- 
tain. 

Q.  Is  it  the  rider  that  determines  his  horse  ? 

A.  No.  The  rider  gives  action  and  position,  which 
are  the  language ;  the  horse  answers  this  demand  by  the 
change  of  pace  or  direction  that  the  rider  had  intended 


116  NEW  METHOD    OF    HORSEMANSHIP. 

Q.  Is  it  to  the  rider  or  to  the  horse  that  we  ought  to 
impute  the  fault  of  bad  execution  ? 

A.  To  the  rider,  and  always  to  the  rider.  As  it 
depends  upon  him  to  supple  and  place  the  horse  in  the 
way  of  the  movement,  and  as  with  these  two  conditions 
faithfully  fulfilled,  everything  becomes  regular,  it  is  then 
to  the  rider  that  the  merit  or  blame  ought  to  belong. 

Q.  What  kind  of  bit  is  suitable  for  a  horse  ? 

A.  An  easy  bit. 

Q.  Why  is  an  easy  bit  necessary  for  all  horses,  what- 
ever may  be  their  resistance  ? 

A.  Because  the  effect  of  a  severe  bit  is  to  constrain 
and  surprise  a  horse,  while  it  ought  to  prevent  him  from 
doing  wrong  and  enable  him  to  do  well.  Now,  we  can- 
not obtain  these  results  except  by  the  aid  of  an  easy  bit, 
and  above  all,  of  a  skillful  hand ;  for  the  bit  is  the  hand, 
and  a  good  hand  is  the  whole  of  the  rider. 

Q.  Are  there  any  other  inconveniences  connected  with 
the  instruments  of  torture  called  severe  bits  ? 

A.  Certainly  there  are,  for  the  horse  soon  learns  to 
avoid  the  painful  infliction  of  them  by  forcing  the  rider's 
legs,  the  power  of  which  can  never  be  equal  to  that  of 
this  barbarous  bit.  He  succeeds  in  this  by  yielding 
with  his  body,  and  resisting  with  his  neck  and  jaw, 
which  misses  altogether  the  aim  proposed. 

Q.  How  is  it  that  nearly  all  the  horsemen  of  renown 
have  invented  a  particular  kind  of  bit  ? 

A.  Because  being  wanting  in  personal  science,  they 
sought  to  replace  their  own  insufficiency  by  aids  or 
strange  machines. 

Q.  Can  the  horse,  perfectly  in  hand,  defend  himself  ? 

A.  No;  for  the  just  distribution  of  weight  that  this 
position  gives  supposes  a  great  regularity  of  movement, 
and  it  would  be  necessary  to  overturn    this  order  that 


EXPOSITION    OF   THE    METHOD.  Il7 

any  act  of  rebellion  on  the  part  of  the  horse  should  take 
place. 

Q.  What  is  the  use  of  the  snaffle  ? 

A.  The  snaffle  serves  to  combat  the  opposing  forces 
(lateral)  of  the  neck,  to  make  the  head  precede  in  all  the 
changes  of  direction,  while  the  horse  is  not  yet  famil- 
iarized with  the  effects  of  the  bit ;  it  serves  also  to 
arrange  the  head  and  neck  in  a  perfectly  straight  line. 

Q.  In  order  to  obtain  the  ramener,  should  we  make 
the  legs  precede  the  hand  or  the  hand  the  legs  ? 

A.  The  hands  ought  to  precede  until  they  have  pro- 
duced the  effect  of  giving  great  suppleness  to  the  neck 
(this  ought  to  be  practised  in  the  stationary  exercises) ; 
then  come  the  legs  in  their  turn  to  combine  the  hind  and 
fore-parts  in  the  movement.  The  continual  lightness  of 
the  horse  at  all  paces  will  be  the  result  of  it. 

Q.  Ought  the  legs  and  the  hands  to  aid  one  another 
or  act  separately  ? 

A.  One  of  these  extremities  ought  always  to  have  the 
other  for  auxiliary. 

Q.  Ought  we  to  leave  the  horse  a  long  time  at  the 
same  pace  in  order  to  develop  his  powers  ? 

A.  It  is  useless,  since  the  regularity  of  movements 
results  from  the  regularity  of  the  positions ;  the  horse 
that  makes  fifty  steps  at  a  trot  regularly  is  much  further 
advanced  in  his  education  than  if  he  made  a  thousand 
in  a  bad  position.  We  must  then  attend  to  his  position, 
that  is  to  say,  his  lightness. 

Q.  In  what  proportions  ought  we  to  use  the  force  of 
the  horse  ? 

A.  This  cannot  be  defined,  since  these  forces  vary  in 
different  subjects ;  but  we  should  be  sparing  of  them, 
and  not  expend  them  without  circumspection,  particular 
ly   during  the   course  of  his  education.     It  is  on   this 


118  NEW  METHOD    OF   HORSEMANSHiP. 

account  that  we  must,  so  to  say,  create  for  them  a  reser- 
voir that  the  horse  may  not  absorb  them  uselessly,  and 
that  the  rider  may  make  a  profitable  and  more  lasting 
use  of  them. 

Q.  What  good  will  there  result  to  the  horse  from  this 
judicious  employment  of  his  forces  ? 

A.  As  we  will  only  make  use  of  forces  useful  for  cer- 
tain movements,  fatigue  or  exhaustion  can  only  result 
from  the  length  of  time  during  which  the  animal  will 
remain  at  an  accelerated  pace,  and  will  not  be  the  effect 
of  an  excessive  muscular  contraction  which  would  pre- 
serve its  intensity,  even  at  a  moderate  pace. 

Q.  When  should  we  first  undertake  to  make  the  horse 
back? 

A.  After  the  suppling  of  the  neck  and  haunches. 

Q.  Why  should  the  suppling  of  the  haunches  precede 
that  of  the  loins  (the  reculer)? 

A.  To  keep  the  horse  more  easily  in  a  straight  line 
and  to  render  the  flowing  back  and  forward  of  the  weight 
more  easy. 

Q.  Ought  these  first  retrograde  movements  of  the 
horse  to  be  prolonged  during  the  first  lessons  ? 

A.  No.  As  their  only  object  is  to  annul  the  instinct- 
ive forces  of  the  horse,  we  must  wait  till  he  is  perfectly 
in  hand  to  obtain  a  backward  movement,  a  true  reculer, 

Q.  What  constitutes  a  true  reculer  f 

A.  The  lightness  of  the  horse  (head  perpendicular), 
the  exact  balance  of  his  body,  and  the  elevation  to  the 
same  height  of  the  legs  diagonally. 

Q.  At  what  distance  ought  the  spur  to  be  placed  from 
the  horse's  flanks  before  the  attaque  commences  ? 

A.  The  rowel  should  not  be  farther  than  two  inches 
from  the  horse's  flanks. 

Q.  How  ought  the  attaques  to  be  practised  ? 


EXPOSITION   OF   THE    METHOD.  119 

A.  They  ought  to  reach  the  flanks  by  a  movement 
like  the  stroke  of  a  lancet,  and  be  taken  away  as 
quickly. 

Q.  Are  there  circumstances  where  the  attaque  ought 
to  be  practised  without  the  aid  of  the  hand  ? 

A.  Never;  since  its  only  object  should  be  to  give  the 
impulsion  which  serves  for  the  hand  to  contain  Q-enfeV' 
mer)  the  horse. 

Q.  Is  it  the  attaques  themselves  that  chastise  the  horse  ? 

A.  No.  The  chastisement  is  in  the  contained  position 
that  the  attaques  and  the  hand  make  the  horse  assume. 
As  the  latter  then  finds  himself  in  a  position  where  it  is 
impossible  to  make  use  of  any  of  his  forces,  the  chastise- 
ment has  all  its  efficiency. 

Q.  In  what  consists  the  difference  between  the  attaques 
practised  after  the  old  principles,  and  those  which  the  new 
method  prescribed? 

A,  Our  predecessors  (that  we  should  venerate)  prac- 
tised spurring  in  order  to  throw  the  horse  out  of  him- 
self; the  new  method  makes  use  of  it  to  contain  him ; 
that  is,  to  give  him  that  first  position  which  is  the 
mother  of  all  the  others. 

Q,  What  are  the  functions  of  the  legs  during  the 
attaques  ? 

A.  The  legs  ought  to  remain  adherent  to  the  horse's 
flanks  and  in  no  respect  to  partake  of  the  movements  of 
the  feet. 

Q.  At  what  moment  ought  we  to  commence  the  atta^ 
ques  f 

A.  When  the  horse  supports  peaceably  a  strong  pres- 
sure of  the  legs  without  getting  out  of  hand, 

Q.  Why  does  a  horse,  perfectly  in  hand,  bear  the  spur 
without  becoming  excited^  and  even  without  sudden 
movement  ? 


120  NEW  METHOD    OF    HORSEMANSHIP. 

A.  Because  the  skillful  hand  of  the  rider,  having  pre- 
vented all  displacings  of  the  head,  never  lets  the  forces 
escape  outwards ;  it  concentrates  them  by  fixing  them. 
The  equal  struggle  of  the  forces,  or  if  you  prefer  it,  their 
ensemble^  sufficiently  explains  the  apparent  dullness  of 
the  horse  in  this  case. 

Q.  Xi  it  not  to  be  feared  that  the  horse  may  become 
insensible  to  the  legs  and  lose  all  that  activity  necessary 
for  accelerated  movements  ? 

A.  Although  this  is  the  opinion  of  nearly  all  the  peo- 
ple who  talk  of  this  method  without  understanding  it, 
there  is  nothing  in  it.  Since  all  these  means  serve  only 
to  keep  the  horse  in  the  most  perfect  equilibrium, 
promptness  of  movement  ought  necessarily  to  be  the 
result  of  it,  and,  consequently,  the  horse  will  be  disposed 
to  respond  to  the  progressive  contact  of  the  legs,  when 
the  hand  does  not  oppose  it. 

Q.  How  can  we  judge  whether  an  attaque  is  regular  ? 

A.  When,  far  from  making  the  horse  get  out  of  hand, 
it  makes  him  come  into  it. 

Q.  How  ought  the  hand  to  be  supported  at  the  mo- 
ments of  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  horse  ? 

A.  The  hand  ought  to  stop,  fix  itself,  and  only  be 
drawn  sufficiently  towards  the  body  to  give  the  reins  a 
three-quarter  tension.  In  the  contrary  case,  we  must 
wait  till  the  horse  bears  upon  the  hand  to  present  this 
insurmountable  barrier  to  him. 

Q.  What  would  be  the  inconvenience  of  increasing 
the  pressure  of  the  bit  by  drawing  the  hand  towards 
the  body  in  order  to  slacken  the  horse  in  his  paces  by 
getting  him  in  hand  ? 

A.  It  would  not  produce  an  effect  upon  a  particular 
part,  but  would  act  generally  upon  all  the  forces,  in  dis- 
placing the   weight   instead  of  annulling   the   force  of 


EXPOSITION   OF   THE    METHOD.  121 

impulsion.  We  should  not  wish  to  incline  to  one  side 
what  we  cannot  stop. 

Q.  In  what  case  ought  we  to  make  use  of  the  caves- 
son,  and  what  is  its  use  ? 

A.  We  should  make  use  of  it  when  the  faulty  con- 
struction of  the  horse  leads  him  to  defend  himself,  when 
only  simple  movements  are  demanded  of  him.  It  is  also 
useful  to  use  the  cavesson  with  restive  horses,  as  its 
object  is  to  act  upon  the  moral,  while  the  rider  acts  upon 
the  physical. 

Q.  How  ought  we  to  make  use  of  the  cavesson  ? 

A.  At  first,  the  longe  of  the  cavesson  should  be  held 
at  from  fifteen  or  twenty  inches  from  the  horse's  head, 
held  out  and  supported  with  a  stiff  wrist.  We  must 
watch  the  proper  times  to  diminish  or  increase  the  bear- 
ing of  the  cavesson  upon  the  horse's  nose,  so  as  to  use 
it  as  an  aid.  All  viciousness  that  leads  him  to  act  badly 
is  to  be  repressed  by  little  jerks,  which  should  be  given 
at  the  very  moment  of  defense.  As  soon  as  the  rider's 
movements  begin  to  be  appreciated  by  the  horse,  the 
longe  of  the  cavesson  ought  no  longer  to  act ;  at  the 
end  of  a  few  days  the  horse  will  only  need  the  bit,  to 
which  he  will  respond  without  hesitation. 

Q.  In  what  case  is  the  rider  less  intelligent  than  the  horse? 

A.  When  the  latter  subjects  him  to  his  caprices,  and 
does  what  he  wishes  with  him. 

Q.  Are  the  defenses  of  the  horse  physical  or  moral  ? 

A.  At  first  they  are  physical,  but  afterwards  become 
moral ;  the  rider  ought  then  to  seek  out  the  causes  that 
produce  them,  and  endeavor,  by  a  preparatory  exercise, 
to  re-establish  the  correct  equilibrium  that  a  bad  natural 
formation  prevented. 

Q.  Can  the  naturally  well-balanced  horse  defend  him- 
self ? 


122  NEW  METHOD   OF   HOESEMANSHIP. 

A.  It  •would  be  as  difficult  for  a  subject  uniting  all 
that  constitutes  a  good  horse  to  give  himself  up  to  dis- 
orderly movements,  as  it  is  impossible  for  the  one  that 
has  not  received  the  like  gifts  from  nature,  to  have  reg- 
ular movements,  if  art  did  not  lend  him  its  aid. 

Q.  What  do  you  mean  by  rassembler  f 

A.  The  reunion  of  forces  at  the  centre  of  gravity. 

Q.  Can  we  rassembler  the  horse  that  does  not  contain 
himself  under  the  attaques  f 

A.  This  is  altogether  impossible;  the  legs  would  be 
insufficient  to  counterbalance  the  effects  of  the  hand. 

Q.  At  what  time  ought  we  to  rassembler  the  horse  ? 

A.  When  the  ramener  is  complete. 

Q.  Of  what  service  is  the  rassembler  f 

A,  To  obtain  without  difficulty  everything  of  a  com- 
plicated nature  in  horsemanship. 

Q.  In  what  docs  the  piaffer  consist  ? 

A.  In  the  graceful  position  of  the  body  and  the  har- 
monized precision  of  movement  of  the  legs  and  feet. 

Q,  Is  there  more  than  one  kind  of  piaffer  f 

A.  Two  ;  the  slow  and  the  precipitate. 

Q.  Which  is  to  be  preferred  of  these  two  ? 

A,  The  slow  piaffer^  since  it  is  only  when  this  is 
obtained  that  the  equilibrium  is  perfect. 

Q.  Ought  we  to  make  a  \iox^Q  piaffe  who  will  not  bear 
the  rassembler  f 

A.  No;  for  that  would  be  to  step  out  of  the  logical 
gradation  that  alone  can  give  certain  results.  Besides, 
the  horse  that  h^s  not  been  brought  forward  by  this 
chain  of  principles  would  only  execute  with  trouble  and 
ungracefully  what  he  ought  to  accomplish  with  pleasure 
and  nobly. 

Q.  Are  all  riders  alike  suited  to  conquer  all  the  diffi- 
culties and  seize  all  the  effects  of  touch  ? 


EXPOSITION    OP   THE    METHOD.  123 

A.  As  in  horsemanship,  intelligence  is  the  starting 
point  for  obtaining  every  result,  everything  is  subordin- 
ate to  this  innate  disposition ;  but  every  rider  will  have 
the  power  to  break  his  horse  to  an  extent  commensurate 
with  his  own  abilities  to  instruct. 


CONCLUSION'. 

EvEEYBODY  complains  now-a-days  of  the  degeneration 
of  our  breeds  of  horses.  Apprehensive  too  late  of  a 
state  of  things  which  threatens  even  the  national  inde- 
pendence,* patriotic  spirits  are  seeking  to  go  back  to  the 
source  of  the  evil,  and  are  arranging  divers  systems  for 
remedying  it  as  soon  as  possible.  Among  the  causes 
which  have  contributed  the  most  to  the  loss  of  our  old 
breeds,  they  forget,  it  seems  to  me,  to  mention  the 
decline  of  horsemanship,  nor  do  they  consider  that  the 
revival  of  this  art  is  indispensable  in  bringing  about  the 
regeneration  of  the  horse. 

The  difficulties  of  horsemanship  have  long  been  the 
same,  but  formerly  constant  practice,  if  not  taste,  kept 
it  up ;  these  stimulants  exist  no  longer.  Fifty  years 
ago,  every  man  of  rank  was  expected  to  be  able  to  handle 
a  horse  with  skill,  and  break  one  if  necessary.  This 
study  was  an  indispensable  part  of  the  education  of 
young  people  of  family;  and  as.  it  obliged  them  to 
devote  two  or  three  years  to  the  rough  exercises  of  the 
manegej  in  the  end  they  all  became  horsemen,  some  by 
taste,  the  rest  by  habit.  These  habits  once  acquired 
were  preserved  throughout  life ;  they  then  felt  the 
necessity  of  possessing  good  horses,  and  men  of  fortune 
spared  nothing  in  getting  them.  The  sale  of  fine  horses 
thus  became  easy ;  all  gained  by  it,  the  breeder  as  well 
as   the   horse.     It   is   not  so   now ;    the   aristocracy  of 

*  Much  in  this  chapter,  though  written  for  France,  applies  with  great 
appropriateness  to  our  own  country. 


coNCLUsioisr.  125 

fortune,  succeeding  to  that  of  birth,  is  very  willing  to 
possess  the  advantages  of  the  latter,  but  would  dispense 
with  the  onerous  obligations  which  appertained  to  an 
elevated  rank.  The  desire  of  showing  off  in  public  places, 
or  motives  still  more  frivolous,  sometimes  lead  gentlemen 
of  our  times  to  commence  the  study  of  horsemanship, 
but,  soon  wearied  of  a  work  without  satisfactory  results, 
they  find  only  a  monotonous  fatigue  where  they  sought 
a  pleasure,  and  are  satisfied  they  know  enough  as  soon  as 
they  can  stick  passably  well  in  the  saddle.  So  insufficient 
a  knowledge  of  horsemanship,  as  dangerous  as  it  is 
thoughtless,  must  necessarily  occasion  sad  accidents. 
They  then  become  disgusted  with  horsemanship  and 
horses,  and  as  nothing  obliges  them  to  continue  the 
exercise,  they  give  it  up  nearly  altogether,  and  so  much 
the  more  easily  as  they  naturally  care  very  little  about 
the  breeds  of  horses  and  their  perfection.  We  must 
then,  as  a  preliminary  measure  in  the  improvement  of 
horses,  raise  up  horsemanship  from  the  low  state  into 
which  it  has  fallen.  The  government  can  undoubtedly  do 
much  here  ;  but  it  is  for  the  masters  of  the  art  to  supply, 
if  necessary,  what  it  leaves  undoDe.  Let  them  render 
attractive  and  to  the  purpose  studies  which  have  hitherto 
been  too  monotonous  and  often  barren ;  let  rational  and 
true  principles  make  the  scholar  see  a  real  progress,  that 
each  of  his  efibrts  brings  a  syccess  with  it ;  and  we  will 
soon  see  young  persons  of  fortune  become  passionately 
fond  of  an  exercise  which  has  been  rendered  as  interest- 
ing to  them  as  it  is  noble,  and  discover,  with  their  love  for 
horses,  a  lively  solicitude  for  all  that  concerns  their 
qualities  and  education. 

But  horsemen  can  aim  at  still  more  brilliant  results. 
If  they  succeed  in  rendering  easy  the  education  of  com- 
mon horses,  they  will  make  the  study  of  horsemanship 


126  NEW  METHOD   OF   HORSEMANSHIP. 

popular  among  the  masses  ;  they  will  put  within  reach  of 
moderate  fortunes,  so  nui^  ^rous  in  our  land  of  equality, 
the  practice  of  an  art  that  has  hitherto  been  confined  to 
the  rich.  Such  has  been  the  aim  of  the  labors  of  my 
whole  life.  It  is  in  the  hope  of  attaining  this  end  that  I 
give  to  the  public  the  fruit  of  my  long  researches. 

But  I  should  say,  however,  that  if  I  was  upheld  by 
the  hope  of  being  one  day  useful  to  my  country,  it  was 
the  army  above  all  that  occupied  my  thoughts.  Though 
counting  many  skillful  horsemen  in  its  ranks,  the  system 
they  are  made  to  follow,  impotent  in  my  eyes,  is  the  true 
cause  of  the  equestrian  inferiority  of  so  many,  as  well  as 
of  their  horses  being  so  awkward  and  badly  broken.  I 
might  add  that  to  the  same  motive  is  to  be  attributed 
the  little  taste  for  horsemanship  felt  by  the  officers  and 
soldiers.  How  can  it  be  otherwise  ?  The  low  price 
allowed  by  government  for  horses  of  remount,  causes 
few  horses  of  good  shape  to  be  met  with  in  the  army, 
and  it  is  only  of  these  that  the  education  is  easy.  The  offi- 
cers themselves,  mounted  upon  a  very  common  sort  of 
horses,  strive  in  vain  to  render  them  docile  and  agree* 
able.  After  two  or  three  years  of  fatiguing  exercise, 
they  end  by  gaining  a  mechanical  obedience,  but  the 
same  resistances  and  the  same  faults  of  construction  are 
perpetually  recurring.  Disgusted  by  difficulties  that 
appear  insurmountable,  they  trouble  themselves  no  more 
about  horses  and  horsemanship  than  the  demands  of  the 
service  actually  require. 

Yet  it  is  indispensable  that  a  cavalry  officer  be 
always  master  of  his  horse,  so  much  so  as  to  be  able,  so 
to  say,  to  communicate  his  own  thoughts  to  him ;  the  uni- 
formity of  manoeuvres,  the  necessities  of  command,  the 
perils  of  the  battle-field,  all  demand  it  imperatively.  The 
life  of  the  rider,  every  one  knows^  often  depends  upon 


CONCLUSION.  127 

the  good  or  bad  disposition  of  his  steed ;  in  the  same 
way  the  loss  or  the  gain  of  a  battle  often  hangs  on  the 
degree  of  precision  in  manoeuvring  a  squadron.  My 
method  will  give  military  men  a  taste  for  horsemanship, 
a  taste  which  is  indispensable  in  the  profession  they 
practise.  The  nature  of  officers*  horses,  considered  as  so 
defective,  is  exactly  the  one  upon  which  the  most  satis- 
factory results  may  be  obtained.  These  animals  gener- 
ally possess  a  certain  degree  of  energy,  and  as  soon  as 
we  know  how  rightly  to  use  their  powers  by  remedying 
the  physical  faults  that  paralyze  them,  we  will  be  aston- 
ished at  the  resources  they  will  exhibit.  The  rider  fash- 
ioning the  steed  by  degrees  will  regard  him  as  the  work 
of  his  hand,  will  become  sincerely  attached  to  him,  and 
will  find  as  much  charm  in  horsemanship  as  he  previously 
felt  ennui  and  disgust.  My  principles  are  simple,  easy 
in  their  application,  and  within  the  reach  of  every  mind. 
They  can  everywhere  make  (what  is  now  so  rare)  skillful 
horsemen.  I  am  sure  that  if  my  method  is  adopted  and 
well  understood  in  the  army,  where  the  daily  exercise  of 
the  horse  is  a  necessary  duty,  we  will  see  equestrian 
capacities  spring  up  among  the  officers  and  sub-officers 
by  thousands.  There  is  not  one  among  them  who,  with 
an  hour  a  day  of  study  would  not  soon  be  able  to  give 
any  horse  in  less  than  three  months  the  following  quali- 
ties and  education : 

1.  General  suppling. 

2.  Perfect  lightness. 

3.  Graceful  position. 

4.  A  steady  walk. 

5.  Trot  steady,  measured,  extended. 

6.  Backing  as  easily  and  freely  as  going  forward, 

7.  Gallop  easy  with  either  foot,  and  change  of  foot  by 
the  touch. 


128  NEW   METHOD   OF   HORSEMANSHIP. 

8.  Easy  and  regular  movement  of  the  haunches,  com- 
prising ordinary  and  reversed  j^i^'oiiettes. 

9.  Leaping  the  ditch  and  the  bar. 

10.  Pioffer. 

11.  Halt  from  the  gallop,  by  the  aid  of  first,  the  pres- 
sure of  the  legs,  and  then  a  light  support  of  the  hand. 
I  ask  all' conscientious  men  :  have  they  seen  many  horse- 
men of  renown  obtain  similar  results  in  so  short  a  time  ? 

The  education  of  the  men's  horses,  being  less  compli- 
cated than  that  of  those  intended  for  officers,  would  on 
that  account  be  more  rapid.  The  principal  things 
will  be  the  supplings  and  the  backing,  fol- 
lowed by  the  walk,  the  trot  and  the  gallop,  while 
keeping  the  horse  perfectly  in  hand.  The  colonels 
will  soon  appreciate  the  excellent  results  of  this 
exercise,  in  consequence  of  the  precision  with  which  all 
the  movements  are  made.  The  important  flexions  of 
the  fore-hand  can  be  executed  without  leaving  the  sta- 
bles, each  rider  turning  his  horse  around  in  the  stall. 
It  is  not  for  me  to  point  out  to  the  colonels  of  regi- 
ments the  exact  way  of  putting  my  method  in  prac- 
tice; it  is  enough  for  me  to  lay  down  my  principles 
and  to  explain  them.  The  instructors  will  themselves 
supply  the  details  of  application  too  long  to  enumerate 
here. 

I  must  again  repeat,  this  book  is  the  fruit  of  twenty 
years  of  observation  constantly  verified  by  practice.  A 
long  and  painful  work  without  doubt,  but  what  com- 
pensation I  have  found  in  the  results  I  have  been 
happy  enough  to  obtain.  In  order  to  let  the  public 
judge  of  the  importance  of  my  discoveries,  it  is  suffi- 
cient here  to  give  their  nomenclature,  and  I  present 
these  processes  as  new  ones,  because  I  can  conscien- 
tiously say  that  they  never  were  practised  before  me. 


CONCLUSION-.  i29 

I  have  added  then   successively  to  the  manual  of  the 
horseman  the  following  principles  and  innovations ; 

1.  New  means  of  obtaining  a  good  seat. 

2.  Means  of  making  the  horse  come  to  the  man,  and 
rendering  him  steady  to  mount. 

3.  Distinction  between  the  instinctive  forces  of  the 
horse  and  the  communicated  forces. 

4.  Explanation  of  the  influence  of  a  bad  formation  upon 
the  horse's  resistances. 

5.  Effect  of  bad  formations  on  the  neck  and  croup, 
the  principal  focuses  of  resistance. 

6.  Means  of  remedying  the  faults,  or  supplings  of  the 
two  extremities,  and  the  whole  of  the  horse's  body. 

7.  Annihilation  of  the  instinctive  forces  of  the  horse, 
in  order  to  substitute  for  them  forces  transmitted  by  the 
rider,  and  to  give  ease  and  beauty  of  motion  to  the 
ungraceful  animal. 

8.  Equality  of  sensibility  of  mouth  in  all  horses ; 
adoption  of  a  uniform  bit. 

9.  Equality  of  sensibility  of  flanks  in  all  horses  ;  means 
of  accustoming  them  all  to  bear  the  spur  alike. 

10.  All  horses  can  place  their  heads  in  the  position  of 
ramener  and  acquire  the  same  lightness. 

11.  Means  of  bringing  the  centre  of  gravity  in  a  badly- 
formed  horse  to  the  place  it  occupies  in  a  well-formed  one. 

12.  The  rider  disposes  his  horse  for  a  moment,  but  he 
does  not  determine  the  movement. 

13.  Why  sound  horses  often  are  faulty  in  their  paces. 
Means  of  remedying  this  in  a  few  lessons. 

14.  For  changes  of  direction,  use  of  the  leg  opposite 
to  the  side  towards  which  we  turn,  so  that  it  may  pre- 
cede the  other  one. 

15.  In  all  backward  movements  of  the  horse  the  rider's 
legs  ought  to  precede  the  hands. 


,130  NEW  METHOD   OP   HOKSEMANSHIP. 

16.  Distinction  between  the  reculer  and  the  accule- 
ment;  the  good  effect  of  the  former  in  the  horse's  educa' 
tion ;  the  bad  effect  of  the  latter. 

17.  The  use  of  the  spurs  as  a  means  of  education. 

18.  All  horses  can  piaffer ;  means  of  rendering  this 
movement  slow  or  precipitate. 

*\  9.  Definition  of  the  true  rassembler  ;  means  of  obtain- 
ing it ;  of  its  usefulness  to  produce  grace  and  regularity 
in  complicated  movements. 

20.  Means  of  bringing  all  horses  to  step  out  freely  at 
a  trot. 

21.  Rational  means  of  putting  a  horse  at  a  gallop. 

22.  Halt  at  a  gallop,  the  legs  or  the  spur  preceding  the 
hand. 

23.  Force  continued  in  proportion  to  the  forces  of  the 
horse ;  the  rider  should  never  yield  until  after  having 
annulled  the  horse's  resistances. 

24.  Education  of  the  horse  in  parts,  or  means  of  exer- 
cising his  forces  separately. 

25.  Complete  education  of  horses  of  ordinary  forma- 
tion in  less  than  three  months. 

26.  Sixteen  new  figures  of  the  manege  proper  for  giv- 
ing the  finishing  touch  to  the  horse's  education,  and  for 
perfecting  the  rider's  touch. 

It  is  understood  that  all  the  details  of  application 
appertaining  to  these  innovations  are  new  also,  and  like- 
wise belong  to  me. 


THE    £KD. 


INDEX 


PAGB. 

Backing e4-lOT 

Back  to,  with  a  halt Ill 

Bit,  false  aad  true,  yielding  to  the 55 

•♦    form  of 5T 

"    pressureof  the 54 

Breaking,  succinct  exposition  of  the  method  of 113 

Croup,  flexions  of  the 6J> 

Gallop,  of  the 91 

Horse,  concentration  by  the  rider  of  the  forces  of  the 78 

*♦      education  of  the 23 

««               «           "     firstlesson 100 

«♦               «*           "     second  lesson 101 

««               ♦«           ««     third         "      101 

"               "           «•     fourth      "      lOJ 

•♦               "           "     flfth          "      loa 

"       employment  of  the  forces  of  the,  by  the  rider 69 

"      gathering  the 88 

"      how  to  make  him  come  to  you 35 

♦'      of  the  forces  of  the 25 

"      resting  his  chin  on  hia  breast 53 

'*      education  of  Partisan,  Capitaine,  Neptune  and  Buridan 104 

Jaw,  flexion  of  the 36 

Knees,  flexions  of  the 2* 

Leaping 94 

Legs,  flexions  of  the 21 

Neck,  depression  of  the 40 

"     direct  flexions  of  the  head  and, , 48 

"     lateral       '*          *'      on  foot 45 

•«          ««           "          ««       "  horseback 47 

Piaffer,  the 94 

Riding,  preparatory  lessons  for .,...,,, , 19 

Saddles,  exercises  in  the ,  — .,.,.,, 19  • 

Seat,  new  means  for  obtaining  a  good 17 

«♦    of  therider , 18 

Spurs,  the  use  of  the 78 

Supplings,  the  head  and  neck ». » 32-68 

"        Recapitulations , 67 

Trot,  the , 74 

"     *•  backward , 109 


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